


take a breath (don't it sound so easy?)

by ghostinspidey



Series: all we see is sky (for forever) [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Crack, Deaf Clint Barton, Field Trip, First Love, Fluff and Angst, Harley Keener loves Peter Parker, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Identity Reveal, Kidnapping, Literal Crack, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper potts is a good mom, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Peter is a Little Shit, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, dont kill me, endgame doesn’t exist ok, i don’t know, nor does infinity war, not Spider-man tho, not really - Freeform, sue me, this might hurt, wanda maximoff is a good sister, yes i like the field trip trope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-04-05 05:46:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19042342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostinspidey/pseuds/ghostinspidey
Summary: “Bold of you to assume that the public even know my name.”“They don’t?”“Of course they fucking don’t, Harley. My dad is Tony ‘I am Iron Man’ Stark, he would do anything so I can grow up out of the fucking—““You kiss your mother with that fucking mouth?”“Fuck off!”[or, in which the world changed when a small bundle was handed to Tony Stark in 2001, and he vowed to protect his son with everything in him. Peter was like the sun.]





	1. You are worth everything and more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Threat is imminent, and I have to protect the two things I can't live without... that's you two."
> 
> "Don't worry, dad! When I grow strong I'm going to hurt all of the bad guys."
> 
> "I'm sure you will, buddy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is my first proper fic of irondad and spideyson, it covers the events of civil war and homecoming, but i’m pretending that iw and endgame don’t exist because tony stark is alive and happy. also, i am english so my knowledge of the american school system etc is pretty shockingly shit.

There was never really anything to live for. At least, until  _Peter_ , that is. He still remembers the day that Peter turned up on his doorstep, bundled up in social-workers arms, and something inside of him just  _changed_.

From then on, he'd vowed to devote his life to that bundle of just joy. Because that was his son, his blood, his  _everything_.

And then Afghanistan happened. Every minute of every day that he was in that cave, he thought about Peter. He thought about Pepper, and Rhodey, and  _god_ , he hoped that Peter was enjoying himself with his Uncle Rhodey. Peter was old enough to know that his father wasn't there, but he was also too young to really understand why.

He was seven, and Tony had missed his birthday. He'd missed  _his_  son's  _seventh fucking birthday_. That hurt him more than the water punishments, than the arc reactor keeping him alive.

When Rhodey found him wandering through the desert, he had never felt anything like the emotions he felt in those moments. He practically fell into Rhodey's arms, and he couldn't even control the words that fell from his lips.

_"Peter— I missed his birthday— Peter—"_

And Rhodey had told him that Peter was fine. Tony believed him, of course, he did, and when he stepped off that plane and Peter scrambled out of Pepper's arms and ran toward him, nothing felt finer than in that moment.

-

When he was in Afghanistan, Peter had formed an attachment with Pepper. He had become dependent on her while Rhodey was working on trying to find Tony. It wasn't surprising,  _per se_ , but Tony still felt some type emptiness inside him at his son getting close to another adult.

But now, even after everything with Obediah, Tony couldn't afford to  _not_  be with Peter at any given chance. This kid was his blood, his responsibility, and he would give the world to make him happy.

So he did.

What he didn't expect was for his own son to be conspiring with Rhodey to get him and Pepper together. He tried to fucking ignore it, to begin with, but every time he looked at Pepper he'd just get these  _stupid feelings in his stomach—_

He liked Pepper Potts.

_What was this? Was he fucking twelve years old with a high-school crush?_

When Peter found out, he smirked for hours. And he was almost eight. The kid was too smart for his own good.

He definitely had his dad's brains.  _Pepper's_  attitude though.

"I don't know what you want me to do, Pete—"

" _Dad_!" Peter whined. He'd been doing a lot of that lately. " _Mom_  clearly likes you too! She told me so when we watched Toy Story last week."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You two watched Toy Story without me? I'm  _heartbroken—"_

Peter burst into fits of giggles as Tony pretended to fake cry. He scrambled forward, climbing into Tony's lab. "It's okay, dad! We can watch Monsters Inc!"

Tony gasped, a hand flying to his chest in mock hurt. " _Petey_ , I thought we would watch Finding Nemo? You wound me, Peter Stark!"

Peter curled into his dad's chest. For being a seven year old, he was quite small. "We can watch them all! But make sure that mom doesn't get  _jealous_."

Tony smiled as Peter drummed his fingers on his Arc Reactor. "We sure can buddy."

And they did. In the end, anyway. Peter loved curling into his dad and just watching movies. He loved drumming his fingers on the Arc Reactor, giggling every time it sent vibrations through his hand when his dad laughed.

When Peter turned eight, he and his dad spent the whole day in a blanket fort, just watching Star Wars and Disney movies.

Tony would never get tired of cuddling with Peter. Even when his son got older, Peter would be a constant in his life. Peter was just that type of kid.  _His kid_.

_His flesh. His blood._

Sometimes it scared him. If he was told eight years prior that in two months he'd be a father, he would've laughed and sauntered off to another woman. Or man. Depends, really.

But he'd  _stopped_. He was trying to quit the drinking too. Peter didn't like it, and that made his heart hurt. He was trying. So desperately trying to just make himself worthy of Peter's love.

Every time Tony tucked Peter into bed at exactly half eight at night, he drummed his fingers on his Arc Reactor for one minute before laying completely down. And then he'd just look at his dad and smile.  _"I love you, daddy!"_  He'd say, without fail.

Tony would just smile at him as he moved to his son's bedroom door. "I love you more, buddy."

And Peter would fall asleep.

Whenever Tony woke up to Peter crawling into his bed and latching on to him, he'd always do the same thing. His hands would hold his kid close to him and his fingers would run through the mop of brown curls on the boy's head, slowly soothing him into a peaceful slumber. 

Tony hopes that when his time came, it was as peaceful as his son falling asleep.

-

When SHIELD started to get on his back more and more, and as he was falling in love with Pepper, Peter started to develop an understanding more of what was happening around him. He loved his Auntie Nat, she was the  _best_ , but she disappeared after his dad went to New York.

The sun was setting when Peter first realised his dad wasn't as happy as he made himself out to be. He was eleven now, and old enough to really understand what was happening around him.

As soon as Pepper walked down the stairs into his dad's lab, she didn't see him working on Chemistry work from his book, and so didn't know how to change her words to suit him. He tuned in anyway.

"Hey! I admit it!  _My_  fault... sorry," His dad's arms were in the air, almost as a surrender, but he lowered them as Pepper turned around and looked at him. "I'm a piping hot mess." He paused again, swallowing thickly. "It's been going on for a while, I haven't said anything. Nothing's been the same since New York."

Peter pushed his books away and turned around from his desk, watching as his mom walked to his dad.

"Oh, r-really? I didn't notice that. At all." Peter cringed. He could feel her sarcasm.

"You experience things, then they're over, and you still can't explain them? God's, Aliens, other dimensions? I'm just a man in a can." Peter couldn't help the giggle that escaped him. Pepper looked shocked as she noticed him listening in but turned her attention back to Tony as he began to speak again. "The only reason I haven't cracked yet is probably that you moved in, which is great. I love you, I'm  _lucky_ , but honey, I can't sleep."

Tony leaned against his work table. "We put Peter to bed, you go to bed, and I come down here and do what I know... I tinker." The only sound heard for a minute was Peter's feet padding against the floor as he walked to his dad. Tony placed a hand on his sons head, playing with the soft curls. "Threat is imminent, and I have to protect the two things I  _can't_  live without... that's you two."

Without speaking, Pepper lifted Peter up, balancing him on her hip ( _Tony always found it odd. Peter was eleven years old, but he was still very small and light. Pepper loved holding him_ ). "Don't worry, dad! When I grow strong I'm going to hurt all of the bad guys."

Tony smiled, a hand slinking around Pepper's waist. "I'm sure you will, buddy."

And then he disappeared again. Peter was brought home to a decimated house. Everything was destroyed. Tony went with it. Until he didn't. His mom told him that his dad just had to go away for a while.

He came back though, eventually. His mom disappeared too, and  _Uncle Rhodey and Happy_. While they were gone, his mom's friend, May, took him to New York, where they were due to be moving into the new Avenger's tower. He was enrolled in a middle school in Queens under the name of Peter Parker. It was May's name.

_"You're mom and dad have had to go away to save the world, okay, honey? I promise you, they'll be back soon."_

Peter was never exposed to the cameras like his dad was when he was young. The media knew that Tony Stark  _had_  a son, but they didn't know his name or any information regarding him. It made the process easier. His parents were only made aware to the Principal, who signed a very extensive NDA. May trusted him to not leak their information.

Eventually, Peter and May flew back to California, and Peter had never run towards his father than he did that day. After weeks of not seeing him, Tony had held onto his kid for what felt like forever.

_"I missed you so much, buddy! When we go to New York, you're only leaving me for school!"_

And, that  _did_  in fact happen.

Anyone who had tried to cross them, terrorists, government officials, anyone, was arrested. Rhodey came home, Happy woke up eventually, and they moved May out there to New York too, so she could live with her long-time husband, Ben.

Peter stayed close to his mom's side when his dad went to the hospital. She said that they were fixing his heart, and when he got out, Peters nightlight was gone. There was nothing to tap his fingers on anymore. Late 2013 was when Pepper filed the paperwork to officially adopt Peter as her own. He'd been calling her mom since he was seven, and it only felt right that she became his mom legally too.

The other Avengers moved into Avenger's tower a year or so later, and Peter was still getting used to having his breakfast served to him by Captain America every morning. His dad though, no matter how much he hated to admit it, loved having everyone around him. As Peter grew older, and by default grew less clingy, Tony started to miss the days when he'd carry Peter around, or tuck him into bed and have Peter tell him how much he loved him.

He supposes that with everything he and Peter had gone through in his years of existence, he'd be used to the days when he'd wake up with Peter between him and Pepper. But even as Peter grew older, nothing felt better than waking up to Peters curls tickling his chin. His brown hair would be splayed across the mattress and Tony's hand would almost _always_ be tangled in Peter's curls. _Always_.

He never wished for anything to be _any_ other way. 


	2. Harley Keener needs to calm it down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There’s my favourite Stark! Oh— Pep, don’t tell the mechanic I said that, it’ll be a huge blow to his ego—“ 
> 
> “Still got that running mouth, I see."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back on my iron!dad bullshit, saddle up it'll hurt like a mf

* * *

“Mom is going away for a week, Ned, she’s not moving to the other side of the country.”

 “I know, Peter, but with how you’re getting sad about it, you’d think she really was moving.”

“Can we not talk about my mom moving?”

“Okay, but—“

Peter shot his best friend a look and kicked his ankle, willing to shut him up during class. Ned always did this, and Peter didn’t really _want_ to think about the fact that his mom was leaving for a week.

 In all honesty, Peter was dreading it. Sure, Pepper had gone away on business trips before, but at this point in time, he didn’t _want_ to part with her. Just the day before, Peter came home to their wing in the tower being completely empty. No mom, no dad. He’d spent the afternoon with Wanda before leaving to go on Patrol. When she wasn't there, he missed her. When he went on patrol, she'd phone him. It was her way of making sure that he stayed safe. 

The Spider-man situation was still complicated to Ned. He didn’t really get it. Peter had become spider-man five months ago, and while trying to keep it from his parents, FRIDAY was always spying on him. Whether he liked it or not. They'd found out eventually, and his dad didn't speak to him for five days. Pepper, however, stayed with him the whole time. After being so close to his father for his whole life, he was pretty upset by the whole thing. Eventually, he came around though and made Peter a proper suit so he wasn't patrolling in _pyjamas_.  

“There’s always facetime.”

“Mr Leeds! I didn't realise that your conversation with Mr Parker was more _important_ than my class,” Their teacher stopped in front of their desks, looking down at them with an eyebrow raised. “Care to share?”

“No, that’s okay,” Peter rushed out, a flush quickly coating his cheeks. Their teacher walked away, and Peter rounded on Ned. “ _Dude_!”

“What? Peter, your life is so _cool_!” Ned gushed again, keeping quiet this time, though. “I don’t get why you don’t want people to know about this!”

“Shut up, Ned!”

Ned did shut up then. Well, only because Peter’s watch lit up in a series of rhythms. He tapped at the screen, scowling at the messages coming through from Sam and Clint. They never left him alone, even when they _knew_ he was in school. It was a bit of a problem. He knew damn well that Clint had memorised Midtown's vent systems, and if that didn't scream 'over-protective Uncle', Peter didn't know what did. Actually, Happy and Rhodey had rightfully earned that title when he was six and seven ( _when his dad was in Afghanistan_ ), but now, at the age of fourteen, he could safely say that Clint was a prankster, as was Sam, but they both looked out for him. If he was having problems at school, they'd always be right there. 

When their class ended and they sat down in the Cafeteria, MJ quickly joined them, dropping a stack of thick books in front of Peter. "Watch this, loser."

"They're not going to get up and walk away—“ 

MJ shot Ned a sharp look, making Peter laugh as she walked away. He turned to Ned, chin resting in his hand. "Mom's picking me up in— " Peter looked at the time on his watch. 12:35. "— ten minutes." 

"Why are you leaving again?" 

"Uh, mom leaves in two hours so she wants to take me and dad out to lunch," Peter shrugged, glancing at MJ as she sat down opposite them. 

"Where's Pepper going?" 

"Japan, I think."

"Sweet." 

Ned looked at Peter's phone as it buzzed. 

_**Iron-dad** : keener flew in this morning, he's coming to lunch_

Peter's cheeks burned as Ned gasped. "You didn't tell me that, Peter!" 

"I didn't know, Ned! _God_ — do you understand how bad this is? Harley is going to be staying at the tower _with_ us, Ned—“

"I'm going to interrupt your gay panic, _Peter,_  because your mom is ringing you."

Peter looked down at his phone, eyes widening as Pepper forced the call through. He brought the phone to his ear, pressing it closely. “Hey.”

”Peter!” Harley’s voice flowed through his ears, making Peters' heart thump. “Get your ass out here!” 

“Okay, I’m coming, Harls,” Peter stood up, swinging his backpack onto his shoulder. “Try not to have a fit while waiting for at least one minute.”

”Can’t make any promises, Stark.”

Peter rolled his eyes and hung up, sliding his phone into his pocket. “See you.”

”Bye! Have fun, Peter!” Ned called out, making MJ roll her eyes. “Say hi to Harley for me!” 

Peter nodded and looked down at his watch as he left the cafeteria, walking through the halls and toward the exit. “Karen, how’s Harley doing?”

”FRIDAY tells me that Mr Keener has a heightened heart rate. Perhaps he’s excited to see you, Peter.”

His cheeks flushed red again, only worsening as he stepped out of the school doors, spotting his Moms new Audi almost instantly. Harley was hanging out of the window, waving at Peter. “There’s my favourite Stark! Oh— Pep, don’t tell the mechanic I said that, it’ll be a _huge_ blow to his ego—“ 

“Still got that running mouth, I see,” Peter smirked as he slid into the back seat of the car. “Hi, mom.”

”Hi, honey, how was school?” Pepper replied, smiling at him through the rear-view mirror. “Tony is going to meet at us the restaurant, he’s been in meetings all day.” 

“It was ok, I guess,” He shrugged. “Ned talked a lot today. He seemed pretty interested in what was happening in my life. He said it was cool.”

As Harley opened his mouth to speak, FRIDAY spoke up instead. “Incoming call from Boss, accept or deny.”

”Accept,” Pepper replied, pausing for the beep to follow her words before speaking again. “Tony?” 

“Picked up the squirt yet? I’m _starved_ , you could make me starve to death you know, Pete. That’s not good for your old man's health—“ 

“Oh, shut up,” He rolled his eyes. “We’re almost there. Someone got over excited and said you had a huge ego.”

”Harley’s not wrong,” Pepper murmured, throwing the boys a grin. “Anyway, honey, we’re pulling up now. FRIDAY, end call.”

Just before they stepped out of the car, Peter dumped his backpack and slipped on a cap and some sunglasses. Until they got into the privacy of their reservation in the restaurant, Peter didn’t really want people finding out that he was Tony Stark’s son. 

Walking in was fine, but Peter could hear the distant clicks of cameras. “I can hear cameras,” He muttered. “They’re getting closer— can you hurry up, Harley, I’d like to keep my identity a _secret_.”

Harley, who was taking his damn time walking, smirked and ran forward. “Won’t be a secret if you keep running your mouth.”

Peter mimicked him and shoved him forward, sending him toppling through another set of doors. Pepper clutched onto the back of Harley’s t-shirt, pulling him up straight. “Between you two and your father, it’s like taking care of some toddlers.” 

The restaurant waiter opened a curtain and let them to their table, where Tony was waiting. He stood up and hugged Peter, hand rumpling his curls. Beside them, Harley sat down and instantly started looking at the menu. 

In all honesty, every time Harley looked at him or smiled at him, Peter could feel that his heart stops. He doesn’t even remember the day he got a crush on Harley, just some day he realised that ‘ _holy fuck, Harley Keener is a fucking god_ ’. He’s not even out yet but he’s pretty sure that his mom knows he’s really fucking gay. 

He’s not scared of their reactions, because Harley is openly gay, so is Steve, but he just doesn’t feel ready yet. He feels like everything would change. But, with this ridiculous crush on Harley, Peter wants to sink into the floor. 

He can never really tell if Harley is flirting or not, and it makes him want to _scream_. 

“What are you getting, bud?” 

Peter blinked, looking up at his dad. “Uh, I don’t know.” He scanned over the menu. “Probably a burger.”

( _If Happy or Rhodey were there, they'd probably make a comment about how much influence his dad has on his liking of burgers_.)

Harley nodded. “Me too, it sounds good.”

Peter glanced at him,  a flush rising up his neck at the way that Harley messed up his hair. He swallowed thickly, closing the menu and resting it on the table. “Yeah, it does.”

**-**

Their meal was nice until paparazzi forced their way into the restaurant, that is. When the hairs on the back of Peter's neck raised and sent shivers down his spine, he gripped his mom's arm. “Something’s happening.”

At that moment, the curtain moved and several cameras were shoved around it. Acting quickly ( _Peters back was to the camera’s, thank god_ ), Pepper put her blazer over Peter’s head, restricting any type of exposure. 

Harley couldn’t care less, he looked smug, actually. He was probably enjoying getting his photo taken. Peter’s stomach churned when they stood up to leave, but Harley stayed close to him, an arm draped around his back. His dad was on his other side, a hand covering his son's face. 

Peter hated when this happened. He hated that he couldn’t go out to dinner with his parents and his crush— _no_ , _Harley_. _He hated that he couldn’t go out to dinner with his parents and Harley_. It sucked, it really did, but he did appreciate the privacy he got in his life. 

People thought he was just Peter Parker, from a run-down apartment in Queens. Really, he was Peter Stark, the son of a billionaire and the heir to Stark Industries. That was a lot of baggage to hold. He was also _very gay_ but, _again_ , at this point in time, it was unimportant. _Kind of_. _Not really_. 

When they arrived back to the tower, Peter really wasn’t surprised to find everyone lounging in the living room. “Hey guys,” Peter smiled, pulling off his hat and sunglasses. Harley bounced in behind him, waving at everyone. 

“Hey, Pete,” Steve waved slightly, moving his hand briefly from the book he was reading. “How was school?”

Peter shrugged. “It was fine.”

”That Flash kid give you any trouble?” Nat asked, ruffling his hair as she walked past. 

“No, it’s fine,” He replied, slipping off his shoes and sitting on one of the sofas next to his dad. “Cuddles?”

That made Tony’s heart burst. Peter cuddles were always some time to live for, ever since his son was born. “I mean, there’s no Arc Reactor but sure, buddy.” 

A loose smile hung on Peter’s lips as he curled into his dad’s chest, head resting by his heart, allowing the steady rhythm to lull him to sleep. He was practically in the man’s lap, but Tony only wrapped his own arms around his son, holding him tighter. 

“Can you play with my hair?” Peter mumbled, struggling to hold back a yawn. “‘m tired. Harley’s boring.”

A loud gasp sounded from the kitchen, where Harley was probably getting more food. He walked into the living room, a bag of chips in his hands.“You Stark’s are so _rude_.”

”You _just_ ate a meal,” Sam stared at him, disbelief written all over his face. 

“And what?” Harley shrugged, sitting next to Peter’s feet on the couch. “Move your fucking feet.”

Peter kicked him loosely, rolling his eyes. “Dad, tell him to stop being mean.”

” _Dad, tell him to stop being mean_ ,” Harley mimicked, rolling his own eyes. 

“Harley, if you keep rolling your eyes they’re going to roll right out of your head.”

Peter grinned, glancing at Nat. “You’re right, he should keep doing it so that actually happens.”

Instead of kicking Peter back like he thought he would, Harley got comfy on the couch, shooting Peter a smile before digging his hand into the chip packet. "What we watching, superheroes? No one take Peter _or_ the grandpa's opinion into account, they're both going to conk out in five minutes." 

"Did you just call me, Grandpa?" Tony looked at Harley through squinted eyes, continuing to run his fingers through Peter's hair. Tony is probably the reason that Peter's hair gets greasy so easily, but he couldn't bring himself to care when Peter was latching on to him like a koala. "Be quiet, kid, my kid is trying to sleep." 

"Can't sleep when you're all talking." 

Peter suddenly rolled out of his dad’s grip and off of the couch, landing on the soft rug. Did these people _not_ have any consideration for him? _At all_? Wanda let out a soft laugh, making Peter look at her. She was led down on a couch with her head now in Nat’s lap; both of them looked undeniably soft, and Peter's heart clenched. Did he want that— but _not_ platonically— with Harley? Yes. Was he fourteen? yes. Was he also very, very gay? _Yes_. 

"Hey, Pete?" 

Peter looked at Harley with flushed cheeks ( _did he never not have flushed cheeks when he was around Harley?_ ). "Yeah?"

"Wanna watch Star Wars? We can get FRIDAY to project it to the ceiling!" Harley licked his lips, already standing up, chip packet still in his hands. "You can nap during it if you want? I think it's time for Harley and Peter cuddles, so fuck off, old man!" 

" _Hey!_ " 

Peter nodded, ignoring his dad's protests. "Sure— let me just say bye to Mom and I'll be there." 

When Harley left the room, he turned to his parents, ignoring the way they smirked at him. "Have a good time in Japan— _oh_! If they have any different Star Wars legos, could you bring me back some? Ned has been dying to try some new ones."

Pepper kissed his forehead, thumb caressing his cheek. "Thank you, honey, and of course I will. I love you."

"Thank you! I love you too."

As he walked to his room and everyone burst into speech, he was almost one hundred per cent sure that his parents knew he was gay. There was enough evidence from the moment when they all sat down in the living room to now. They've never smirked like that at him before, so why are they doing it now that Harley is around? He must have some sort of effect on them, _surely_.

All he knew was that Harley definitely had some sort of effect on _him_. He probably shouldn't dwell on it too much, FRIDAY would probably look into his brain and dig up what he thinks about. His dad would have an aneurysm and a heart attack at the _same_ time. 

 Definitely _not_ a good idea. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally wanted this chapter to be focused on Peter with the Avengers, but it turned out kinda soft, and I wanted to show the pining between Harley and Peter early on. They're so young and Peter is so innocent, I love making him so oblivious. And, the next chapter will be focused on the beginning of the shit with the accords. I'm still trying to figure out how to actually incorporate superfamily stuff and the friendship between Peter and Ned, so this chapter is probably a bit of a touch and go in those regards.
> 
> Also, feedback comments would be very much appreciated! It's really helpful in motivation!


	3. Like Wanda did

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I see you dragged Web-slinger into this."
> 
> "Told you to to stop calling me that. Anyway, I’m getting tired, are we doing this or not? Before you dragged me out, I was going to work out and have a nap.” 
> 
> “Let's go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, this chapter is completely Civil War centric. The whole chapter covers the entire Civil War film, and the reason I've done this is that I really wanted to incorporate the feelings that Peter would have during the whole Civil War and his thoughts on Siberia too. The first few chapters will probably seem like it's jumping through time-frames, which it is, but after Chapter 3, it will just follow through Peter's day to day life like any normal fic.

When his mom got back, a week later, the arguing started. It wasn't like his parents never argued because they did, but this time it felt different. His dad told him not to worry, but Peter knew that he wasn't speaking to his mom. They tried to keep it under wraps, they really did, but it wouldn't work in their favour. After Sokovia, when his dad had refused to give up being Iron Man, they'd gone through a rough patch. Peter didn't know what sparked it again. 

The arguing quickly developed when Cap, Sam, Wanda and Nat disappeared to somewhere in Africa. All Peter saw was the news and the number of casualties, Wanda hadn't really been the same since she got back. Peter noticed that she spent a lot of time in her room, just constantly watching the news and the reports about her own actions. It wasn't particularly healthy, but neither was the fact that his dad left for MIT for some conference just as he and Pepper split. 

That broke him. Pepper wasn't spending time at the Tower anymore, and his dad was working himself into a breakdown. Peter didn't know how to deal with it all, the other Avengers were locking themselves away, and it really didn't help that Harley had left two days ago ( _they'd confirmed plans for him to move out to New York with them. He'd gone back to Rose Hill to get his stuff_ ). It felt like he had no one to talk to about it. 

"You're deep in thought, kid." 

Peter looked to his right, look at his Uncle Rhodey. "Where's dad?" 

Rhodey smiled sadly. "He's in the conference room. I just came to say that we might be in there for a while, okay? It'll be all of us, buddy." 

Peter nodded, leaning heavily against the back of the couch. "Cool, cool, cool, cool. I'll just be here, I guess." Rhodey gave him one last smile before leaving. Peter hoped that Rhodey came back, and didn't leave like everyone else. 

* * *

  When the accords really started to be dealt with and signed, Peter tried to stay out of his way. Once he was back, that is. He stayed close to Pepper, mainly, and he tried to go out on patrol more, but he couldn't exactly concentrate, so he stuck to the gyms. They had this room, called the _Frame Room_ , that his dad built. It was basically a huge jungle gym, he used it to let out steam. And, god, he was in need of that. 

School was shitty, as usual. He hadn't heard from his dad for days, _shocker_ , and his mom was out of town. His dad _was_ there, but he was called to some place in Europe, and he left without even saying anything to his son. Peter just woke up one morning and found out where he was through FRIDAY. 

It was just him, Vision, Wanda and Happy. He'd planned on going to the gym, letting off some steam that Flash had put in him. Until he stepped foot in the living room, that is. 

"Pete."

He was there, just sat casually on the couch, as if he hasn't disappeared for a week without telling him. Peter let his backpack slid to the floor, and a weak sound emitted from the back of his throat. " _Dad_."

He stumbled forward, just collapsing onto the seat next to him. Tony instantly wrapped his arm around his son's shoulders, just pulling him into his chest. Another hand ran through the curls that he didn't tame this morning. "Fancy being an Avenger for the weekend? I missed you, buddy. I really did."

Peter took a look at his dad. He thinks there are more grey hairs than there was a week ago. Yeah, that's a definite. If he told his eight-year-old self that his dad would continue to disappear without telling him, he'd laugh. Peter knows that this is one of the reasons why he and his mom were taking a break.

While he liked Steve and the others, if they made his dad look like this, he hated them. It made him angry. He didn't understand the situation, he didn't know what was going on, but they were supposed to be friends. Friends don't do that shit to each other. But he swallowed it back and grinned. "Being an avenger? _Cool_! I want to come! Are we going to Berlin? I've always wanted to go—"

Tony just smiled at him. "Just get the suit, Pete. We're going to Berlin." 

* * *

 

When his mom called him halfway through the flight, as a checkup, he looked at his dad in panic, who was very pale. "Should I answer? If she finds out I'm with you, dad, she'll kill us both. I haven't seen her for ages— she hasn't been to the tower!"

Tony just looked at him. "I'm already on her death radar, buddy, you should be on her good side."

So he answered. He missed her too much to just ignore the call. "Hey, mom, what's with the call?"

Tony raised an eyebrow as the hologram of Pepper stared at Peter. "And _where_ are you? I come home from my trip to an empty house. Empty! God help you, Peter—"

Getting very scared of his mother, Pete flipped the camera around, showing off his dad, who was just slouched in a seat, playing home to a very prominent black eye. Maybe that wasn't the best thing to do, considering the fact that they probably hated each other at the time, but Peter was under pressure and he couldn't think of what else to do.  "Look, Pep, there's a problem, I needed backup, we're seriously out-numbered—"

"So you brought our son into this?!"

Peter flinched. She was mad  _mad_. He could only listen as his parents bickered back and forth, shouting at each other. He didn't like when they did this, sometimes he really thought that one day, they'd just stop talking and that would be the end of it. It kind of felt like the end of it at the moment, but he knew that they still loved each other, but things were just hard. It was chaotic, being a Stark. And really tiring. He was _always tired_. 

When they touched down in Berlin and suited up, Tony held Peter tightly against him, one hand holding his head closely. "If Rogers asks questions, tell him he's wrong, and, kid, go for his legs. Don't come out until I call you, I'd rather keep the element of surprise in. I love you, buddy, and I'm sorry about not being at the tower with you."

"It's okay, I love you too, dad."

Quickly enough, their team turned up and Peter leaned into Nat's side as Tony briefed them. His Uncle Rhodey was there too. "I see you dragged Web-slinger into this."

"Told you to stop calling me that," Peter mumbled, standing up straight and crossing his arms across his chest. He looked at his dad. "I'm getting tired, are we doing this or not? Before you dragged me out, I was going to work out _and_ nap."

Tony shot his son a look. "Let's go.”

His dad and Uncle Rhodey went out first, speaking to Cap. Peter wasn't really listening, well, not until his dad called for him, anyway. "Underoos!"

Peter swung out and latched a web onto Caps shield, ripping it out of his hand. Steve just stared at him in disbelief. "Hey everyone! By the way, I really don't appreciate being left alone in the tower. Not cool!"

"You've dragged your own son into this? Unbelievable!"

His dad's faceplate lifted again. He was just staring at Cap. "Kids smart, he wanted to come."

Peter held onto the shield tighter. "You insult  my dad and you'll go through me, Rogers."

And when the battle kicked off, Peter ended up fighting Steve. They'd sparred before, they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. Peter swung into Cap, sending him to the floor. They fought for a while and in the end, Steve slammed his shield into Peter's face, sending him crashing to the floor. And Steve just left him there, like he wasn't his fucking nephew. 

Gasping for breath, Peter tried to push himself off of the floor, but his arms buckled beneath him, dropping him to the ground again. "Karen?"

"Your nose is bleeding, Peter. There is also some light bruising to your left cheek. You may also have a concussion."

He tore off his mask, arm resting over his eyes in attempts to shield them from the sunlight. He groaned, trying to wipe away the blood coming from his nose. Sliding his mask back on, once his vision cleared, the comms came back to life. Everyone was talking at different times and it was making his head hurt. He stood up slowly, stumbling forward.

Right in front of his eyes, the small weird man grew big. He ran forward and webbed onto the man, swinging around him at the same time as his dad and Uncle Rhodey flew around him. "Have you ever seen that really old movie Empire Strikes Back?"

"Jesus, Pete—"

Peter was swinging webs around the man's knees, trapping him so he couldn't walk.

"Maybe the kids onto something."

Just as they finished webbing him up, his dad and Rhodey both kicked his chin sending him backwards. But, the man's hand caught onto Peter and sent him flying through the air. There was nothing to web on to.

He crashed straight into some wooden boxes and his head smashed off of them, sending him bouncing and rolling across the tarmac. The splinters of wood lashed through the suit and into his skin.

He was bleeding, a lot, he knew that much. Everything felt a bit hazy to him as he pulled off the mask, gasping for air from being winded. He could feel the blood running down his head, he could feel it on his stomach and legs. Everything felt a little woozy to him like everything was spinning. 

One minute he was there, the next he wasn't. Seeing your son disappear from a battle was not particularly great. As soon as he realised he didn't have eyes on him anymore, Tony's heart just dropped. "Anyone have eyes on Peter?"

There was silence through the comms until Rhodey's cracking voice spoke. "Crates by the plane!"

Tony turned around and flew forward. His breathing was hitching, and all he saw was red. He couldn't figure out what was his son's suit and what was blood. He and Rhodey dropped down at the same time, and both of their faceplates lifted and dissolved. Tony dropped down, and he couldn't help but gag at the metallic smell of the blood. He'd heard something once, a mother telling him how nothing was worse than seeing your own flesh and blood just on the floor. She was right. Nothing hurt more than seeing his son lying helplessly on the floor.

It was oozing everywhere. Peter's eyes were hooded and his chest rose slowly. Tony looked over his son. "Pete?"

Peter blinked slowly up at him. He head was in a lot of pain, and the sunlight was so _so_ bright. He just wanted everything to be quiet and dark. His body twisted in pain, a groan emitting from this throat as he tried to cover his eyes from the sun. He knew his dad was there, he could feel his hands on the splinters that hurt so much.

When everything suddenly went dark around him, Peter opened his eyes again, a loose smile hanging on the ends of his lips as his dad stared down at him. As he went to speak, Tony held a finger up. "Just stay there, buddy. I’ve got you, you’re safe. It'll be okay—“

Peter nodded, letting out pathetic gasps of breaths in attempts to get air. He held onto his dad's hand, but then Rhodey started shouting and they were gone, just like New York. 

He was just left there, bleeding and in pain. But then he wasn’t. And Wanda was next to him, manoeuvring the wood from around him until it's all gone. He panted, desperately attempting to sit up, but she just placed a soft hand on his shoulder, keeping him grounded.

Just behind her, he saw something black and grey flying toward the floor, and something red and gold going after it. A strangled cry echoed out of his throat as he tried to get up. Because that was Rhodey.  _His Uncle Rhodey_  who sat with him when his dad was kept in Afghanistan,  _his Uncle Rhodey_  who dealt with his injuries when he didn't want to worry his dad.  _That was his Uncle Rhodey._

He didn't care how much it hurt to stand up, he wanted to. He _needed_ to. "Rhodey! Wanda—  let me go—“

He was pulled away from her eventually. Did someone say something about a guy named Ross and something about a  _raft_? He didn't know. But, he felt numb as Tony held him. Rhodey would be okay, they  _hoped_. Rhodey needed to be okay. What was two Starks if they didn't have their Rhodey keeping them grounded?

* * *

 

No sooner did they get home from Germany, his dad was gone again. He didn't say where, but Nat had left too. He was completely alone. Rhodey was still in the Med-bay, and Pepper was coming and going every so often. She tried to stay for longer periods of time, but she was still the CEO of SI, and did have work to do, no matter how needy her son was being. 

Peter thinks that they’ve locked some of the Avengers up, in that _Raft_ place that they took Wanda to. The ones who didn't sign the accords, that is. His heart burned for Wanda's hugs. He missed her a lot. She was always the one to cheer him up or keep him company when his parents weren’t around. She didn’t deserve to be locked away. Spending nights alone in the Compound wasn't exactly the best part of his days. Sometime's Ned came back with him, or he'd video call with Harley, but other than that he was alone. Vision came out of his room every now and then, but the two of them didn't talk much.

He didn't like it.

But this evening, as he was sprawled out on the sofa watching re-runs of Brooklyn Nine-nine, the Elevator opened and FRIDAY perked up. She had been silent for hours. “Welcome home, Miss Potts. I'm glad you're back, Peter doesn't know how to care for himself."

Peter sat up, smiling as his mom slips off her shoes and sits down next to his feet, hand reaching out to comb through his hair. "I can take care of myself, Fri."

The AI hummed, clearly not believing him. She brushed his hair back. "I spoke to your dad, honey."

"Where is he?" Peter hated how his voice cracked. He just wanted his dad.

She sighed, a hand resting softly on his cheek. "He went to see Cap's team at the Raft and went to Siberia. He's on his way, baby."

"Is he hurt?"

Peter's questions made him sound so small and innocent, and he cared so much about Tony and loved him so much that Pepper didn't have the heart to lie to him and tell her son that he was fine. She simply nodded. "Cap and his friend got him good. He'll be fine though.”

His jaw clenched in anger. His mom's version of 'bleeding to death' was by saying that his dad was fine. He knew that he wasn't, and he didn't want to do anything but wait for him to come home.

This whole situation reminded him of Afghanistan. Of how Peter was in Pepper’s arms as they waited at the airbase, she was constantly telling him that his dad was fine, that he wasn’t hurt, but Peter knew he was. He’d heard the phone calls with Rhodey.

He cleared his throat, swinging his legs to the floor as he pulled off the throw blanket. He changed the subject as soon as he felt his throat tightening and his eyes stinging. "Harley says he's flying back tonight. He'll be home at around five."

It was almost eleven at night now. The only lights in the room were coming from the tv that was still playing. "Great. I'm gonna head to bed, honey. I love you."

She left him then. His head was spinning with anger and sadness. His mom was hurting, he knew she was, but she pretended that nothing was wrong, and it was tearing him apart.

“Peter, Harley is requesting a video call before he catches his flight."

Peter shot up. "Yeah, hang on, Fri. Project him in my room."

When Peter entered his room, the hologram of Harley was in front of him. He looked good, and that was good enough to take Peter's mind off of the whole situation. His internal gay panic was getting bigger by the second,  Harley's blonde hair was all over the place, and his earphones were tucked through the neck of his jumper, mirroring how Peter wore his, to hide the wires. "Hey, spider-ling."

Peter collapsed onto his bed, curling around several different blankets. "Aren't you supposed to be on a plane?"

Harley hummed. "Not yet. What are you doing?"

"Mom just got home, for once. She said dad is injured from Siberia. Dunno why he went there, but cap beat the shit out of him."

"And in turn will you be beating the shit out of cap?"

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know me at all? Of course, I will.”

Harley let out a soft laugh before his face turned serious again. He stared right into Peter’s eyes. “How are _you_ doing?”

He sighed and shrugged, wringing his fingers together. “Don’t know, a little weird, I guess. I-I keep having nightmares about Afghanistan, and I’m all alone here and I fucking hate it, I hate how they’re keeping Wanda locked up like some animal—“ 

“—Peter, breathe—“

”— and it’s just, all of them are locked up there, and Cap just beat the fucking shit out of my dad! He just put him under all this stress because of these stupid accords, and he’s arguing with mom too—“

Harley doesn’t even flinch when Peter stops talking abruptly. He’s used to it, Peter did this all the time. He got so worked up that sometimes he just kinda... stopped. “Peter, darlin’, just take a breath, Okay? I’ll be there in a few hours.”

Harley kept him grounded like Wanda did. “Okay. I-I’m gonna call my dad, I think, just to make sure he’s Okay.”

The corners of Harley’s lips curled as he spoke. “I’ll see you in a bit, Pete.”

As the call disconnected, Peter wasted no time in calling his dad. He didn’t wait for the man to answer, he simply forced the call through. 

“Bud? It’s late in New York.”

A wrangled cry came from Peter’s throat as he went to speak, making his words come out thick and heavy. “I miss you so much, please just come home.”

There was silence for a few seconds before Peter heard a sigh. “You’re my son, Pete, I’m always going to come home. I miss you too you know, you’re not the only one with separation anxiety.”

He was whispering now. “The next time I see Cap, I’ll kill him myself.”

”Not if I get there first,” Tony replied. Peter could hear the engines of his helicopter spinning in the background, but his request for a video call had been denied, _shock_. So he _forced_ that through too. “ _Jesus_ , Pete—“

A soft whimper left his sons mouth, and he realised that Peter could see every injury on him. He could see the darkness in the t-shirt he was wearing from the blood seeping out of his chest, he could see the gashes and bruises all over his face and neck. 

“I’ll kill him— I swear, I’ll kill him—“

 “Peter— I’m fine.”

”He hurt you, dad! He was supposed to be your friend—“

”I’m _fine_ , Peter.”

Peter let out a breath, looking at the hologram of his dad. “What?” 

“I said that I’m fine, the blood is dry, buddy. I fixed myself. Look, I’m about two hours out, please go to sleep, buddy.”

Tony has to tear his gaze away from Peter. His son looked completely and utterly heartbroken, his eyes were glassed over. Tony fly his heart ripping in half as Peter began to speak. He just didn’t expect him to change the subject. “Harley is on his way.”

”He is? That’s great, Pete. Are you finally going to confess your undying love to him?”

Peter spluttered, staring at his father with horror written all over his face. “What? Haha, I’m not gay, dad— I don’t know what you’re saying—“

Peter paused, swallowing thickly as his father stared at him with a raised eyebrow. “Peter...”

He laughed nervously, wringing his hands together. He was starting to think that is was an anxious habit he’d picked up. “Why would I have feelings for Harley— that’s insane...”

”Peter. I don’t care if you like boys or not, you’re speaking to Tony Stark, god knows that I fooled around with men and women in the 90s, buddy,” Tony smiled sadly at him. “I love you no matter what.” 

Peter bit back a sob, shaking hands reaching up to run through his curls. “I love you too.”

Tony didn’t need to be a genius to know that Peter talking with him let a weight off of his kid's shoulders. He feels like a bad dad, really. He had been shitty with Peter the last months and weeks, his kid had been left all alone while Cap and his fucking friends ran around the world running riot. 

But, _god_ , he couldn’t stop thinking about Wanda, even if she was on Team Cap. He’d locked her in the tower to keep her safe, she was hurting, and Tony wasn’t sure what she would do if she was let into a dangerous situation. And now, because of him, she was locked away in the Raft, and all he could see when he looked at her was _Peter_. 

It was shitty of him, it really was, but he just wanted to keep her safe. He wanted to keep them all safe, but now all he did was turn them all against him. Nat was officially a criminal too, Rhodey was paralysed, and the Avengers were no more. It was all his fault. 

* * *

 His parents were speaking in the Kitchen when he woke up. In all honesty, he didn't even remember falling asleep the night before, but when he woke up, he just felt overwhelmed by relief? His dad looked relatively fine, he thinks, anyway. And, his mom and dad weren't arguing for once. _Huh_. 

Peter could see the tops of white bandages peeking out of his AC/DC t-shirt, there was a brace on his wrist that was in a sling, and he looked pretty battered and bruised. Other than that, there weren't any life-threatening injuries, and so Peter ran forward, the pads of his feet making quiet sounds as he ran across the floor. He instantly wrapped his arms around his dad, his face pressed into his chest. "Missed you so much." 

Tony ran his good hand through Peter's hair, just cradling him. "I missed you too, buddy." 

He looked his son over, eyeing the light green and blue bruises surrounding his left eye. He'd healed completely, other than the eye. Peter was still wringing his fingers, much like he was doing the night before, and staring at the floor. "Where are they?" He asked. It sounded so small coming from him. 

Tony let out a long breath. "I don't know." He held Peter's cheek, lowering himself to his son's level ( _Peter was only shorter than him by like an inch, but it made him feel better to pretend that he was shorter_ ). "Go get dressed, buddy, I'll wake up Harley." 

When Peter left for his room, Tony left Pepper in the kitchen and walked to Harley's room, where the kid was no doubt conked out. And, he was. Tony snickered as he leant against the doorway. "FRIDAY? it's morning time, wake him up." 

The windows suddenly flooded the room with brightness, making Harley groan and pull his bed covers over his face. "Good morning, Mr Keener. It is Ten-thirty-five in the morning." 

"Fuck you," Harley mumbled, sitting up. His hair was everywhere, and there was a line of drool down the side of his mouth and running to his cheek. Tony grimaced. 

"You've got a drooling problem." 

"Yeah? You've got several problems that I won't comment on, old man." 

Tony raised an eyebrow as he walked closer into the room. There were boxes and suitcases everywhere, clearly showing that they were just dumped that morning before Harley fell asleep. "Get dressed, I'm taking you and the Spiderling out for the day."

 Harley looked Tony up and down, eyebrows quirking at the bruises and sling. "You want to be seen like that? Ok, mechanic." 

Tony mimicked him as he left Harley's room, making his voice louder as he got further down the hall. " _You want to be seen like that? Ok, mechanic_."

 By the time they'd actually left the tower ( _and it took Peter extra long that morning to make his cover-up somewhat acceptable, "Peter what the fuck are you doing?"_ ), it was lunchtime and the paparazzi were somewhat overwhelming. They knew about the airport fight, they knew about the Raft, and god, the Raft, they were shouting out all the information they knew about it. " _Mr Stark! What do you know about the Raft?_ " 

" _Is it true that Wanda Maximoff is detained?_ "

" _Who really is Natasha Romanoff?_ " 

" _What happened with Captain America_?" 

" _Who is Spider-man!? Why was he in Germany?”_

He wrapped on arm around Harley and one arm around Peter, pulling them both into him as they walked down the street. By the way Peter kept flinching, it seemed that he was on the verge of an overload, and there was nothing he could do except keep him close and grounded. _Like Wanda did_. 

Sensing the discomfort from both of the Starks, Harley looked at the reporters around him. "Do ya'll not have a sense of privacy? Can Tony and his kid not go out like a family without you fucking vultures swooping in? _Fuck off_!"

Maybe they should take Harley out with them more often. Wanda _always_ included Harley. They wanted Wanda back.


	4. Letter’s from the heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You were better when you were having panic attacks and didn't speak to me." 
> 
> "You were better when you were having panic attacks— don't speak back to me, kid, you'll be on the first jet back to Rose fucking Hill."
> 
> “That’s an empty threat."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the happy, fluffy, funny chapter that we've all been waiting for (with a little angst,,, i couldn’t resist throwing in Wanda)
> 
> \+ contains some mentions of MI (such as Anxiety, Depression etc)

In the end, they did get mobbed by paparazzi again, and Peter had a sensory overload in the fucking _street_. So, that was _fun_. The photographers were taking photos of him as he was doubled over on the sidewalk, hands pressed over his ears.

His stance was somewhat helpful, to be honest, it covered his face even more. They weren’t surprised to wake up to the headlines and a furious Pepper the next morning, but Peter was surprised that she was willingly in a five-meter radius of his dad. Huh, _interesting_.

The overload had actually caused them to leave early and caused Pepper to realise an official statement as the CEO of Stark Industries. Peter was fucking embarrassed, to say the least, even if people didn’t know who he was. The statement was being shown on the news that morning.

“In other news, Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries, has released a statement this morning regarding yesterday’s incident regarding Tony Stark’s son and photographers. The statement reads; ‘ _As CEO of this company and as a mother, I ask that the paparazzi to leave Tony and our son alone when they are in public. He suffers greatly from both anxiety and claustrophobia and find’s It very hard to be surrounded by loud noises and flashing lights. Please respect our privacy as a family, thank you_ ’.” The news anchor shuffles her papers and clears her throat. “It seems like whoever this boy is, he is very lucky indeed. But, it is very hard to keep well-known people out of the spotlight—“

Peter tuned out then. He couldn’t be bothered to listen to news anchors debate his emotional fucking wellbeing. His dad was pottering around in the kitchen, Harley going behind him and copying whatever he was making. “Morning," He croaked out, sliding onto a breakfast stool. He rested his chin in his hand, blinking his eyes slowly. "How's the media shitstorm?" 

"As expected," Pepper muttered, dropping a kiss onto Peter's cheek before sliding into her heels. "See you later, honey. Bye, Harley." 

As she left, Peter looked at his dad with an eyebrow raised. "No bye for you? _God_ , dad, you really must have pissed her off." 

Harley cackled, choosing the perfect opportunity to swipe Pancake batter across his dad's cheek. The man wasn't amused, but then again, he never really is in the mornings, and he stuck out his foot, tripping up Harley. "Don't you two have homework to do?"

"Jokes on you, metal man, I don't go to school." Harley looked way too proud of himself as he handed the bowl of batter to Tony, sliding into a seat next to Peter. "So, I don't have homework." 

" _Jokes on you_ ," Tony mimicked. Peter thinks that the two of them have some type of problem, all they do is mimic each other. Although, the impressions are almost spot-on every time, Harley's girly voice and all. "You are coming with me to Pete's school, we gotta get you enrolled." 

Harley looked absolutely horrified, and it was Tony and Peter's time to laugh at him. Peter perked up, grinning as he looked at Harley. "You can meet my friends! And, you can join the Decathlon team too!" 

Although Harley was one year older than Peter, he could still be in some of his classes. Peter was moved into advanced classes in his freshman year, and so now, as a Sophmore, he was surrounded by Juniors in Calc. If Wanda were there, she'd force them into school and force them into the same classes. Peter missed her. But, Harley seemed happy enough at going to the same school as Peter, so when they arrived— _Tony called a meeting with Principal Morita_ — Peter was happy to find that the school was clear of any photographers. 

As the four of them ( _Happy had come along too because "my job is to protect all of you, and this is a school, and kids are fucking weird"_ ) entered Morita's office, the man perked up at Peter. Tony had kept him home from school because he was still nursing a headache from the overload and didn't want him to have another.

"Good Morning, Mr Stark." 

Tony gave an award-winning grin as he shook Morita's hand. "Good Morning, Principal Morita." He held onto the back of Peter's neck as they sat down, he knew that the action kept his son from daydreaming. "I trust Peter's grades are sufficient?" 

"Oh, more than Sufficient, Mr Stark!" Harley let out a quiet snort at the man as he spoke, clearly feeling under immense pressure as he spoke to Tony. "Who's this?" 

A lazy grin worked its way onto Tony's face. "This is Harley Keener, he's actually the reason I'm here. I recently acquired a joint Guardianship of Harley with his mother, and it was thought best that he lived here in New York. He's incredibly smart and seeing as Peter already attends here, Harley should too." 

As the two men talked, Peter felt himself slipping again, his eyes closing slowly. The headache was creeping up the back of his skull, sending dull pulses through his head and causing his closed eyes to scrunch in discomfort. In times like this, he'd speak to Wanda. She'd let him lay with her, she'd play with his hair, she'd activate the lullaby protocol. But, Wanda was locked away. And he was at school. 

"— Peter, buddy? Principal Morita wants to speak to you."

Peter opened his eyes again, staring right at his dad. His eyes were soft as a looked at him, a soft smile was playing on his lips too despite the bruises on his face and neck, he looked so dad-like. So loving and kind. Peter cleared his throat, lifting his hands. He started signing ( _ASL was something that all the Avengers knew, it made Clint feel more comfortable around them_ ), "Overload again. It is bright."

Tony nodded, signing back. "I will close the blinds." 

And he did. Without saying anything, his dad stood up and closed the office's blinds before sitting back down and looking at Peter. "That better?" He smiled softly, hand cupping his son's cheek. 

"Yeah," Peter croaked out. Only then did he notice that Harley was staring at him and he looked concerned? He sent him a smile before turning back to Morita. "W-what— uhh— what did you want to speak about, S-sir?"

"Your decathlon team are wondering when you'll be joining us again, Peter."

"Tomorrow, probably. As long as Harley here can start then too?" 

"Of course, Mr Stark. We look forward to you joining us, Harley."

* * *

 "You're actually serious about this aren't you?" 

"Cat's out the fucking bag, Harley. You are going to school today, no excuses." 

"You were better when you were having panic attacks and didn't speak to me." 

" _You were better when you were having panic attacks—_ don't speak back to me, kid, you'll be on the first jet back to _Rose fucking Hill_."

Harley simply blinked. "That's an empty threat." 

Peter looked down at his watch, tapping his foot on the floor. "We're going to be late." 

Snapping back into focus, Tony wrapped his arms around his son and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Have a good day, buddy, have Karen contact FRIDAY if anything is wrong, okay? I love you." 

" _I love you too, dad_!" Harley replied in a shrill voice, snickering when Tony— quite literally- kicked him into the elevator. "Yeah— yeah, you love me really, old man!" 

The elevator sent them down, and Harley turned to Peter with a grin. "I'm 'shadowing' you today, right?" 

"Yeah, why? You know, you should prepare to get bored already." 

"Prepare for the worst day of your life, Peter _Parker_ ," The words rolled off of his tongue so easily that Peter did a double take as they got into Happy's car. He raised an eyebrow, looking Harley up and down. 

"You look like a nerd." 

"I am a nerd, Genius." 

"So am I, Nerd." 

In front of them, Happy let out a groan and muttered to himself. " _Yes, Tony, I'll drive the squirt and the cowboy to school. No, Tony, it won't be torturous, it'll be fine_... I should stop saying yes to him." 

"You alright, Uncle Happy?" Peter asked, looking at him through the rear-view mirror. "You're kind of talking to yourself."

Harley had this shit-eating grin plastered on his face this morning, and it honestly was creeping out both Happy and Peter, but as they pulled up to the school, Happy twisted in his seat, staring directly at Harley. "You know his—“ he nodded his head to Peter "— cover story, right? That's Peter Parker, a queens orphan, not Peter Stark, a Manhattan billionaire." 

Harley rolled his eyes and grabbed his backpack. "I know."

When the entered the school doors, Harley notices how Peter ducks his head, becoming a seemingly different person than he was so unforgivably in love with ( _Harley loves Peter with his entire fucking heart, but that dumb dick can't even notice it_ ). He notices that People stop what they were doing to look at him, but once he quickly becomes recognised from several Paparazzi photos and news articles, all sorts of people come up to him as he waits for Peter to sort out his locker. 

Suddenly, a hand is thrust toward him, making Peter sigh. "Go away, Flash." 

Harley raised an eyebrow and looked at the boy in front of him. That was _Flash_? "Can I help you?"

"Names Flash."

"Okay, Flash, can I help you?" 

"Just wanted to say that I hope you like it here at Midtown Tech, I was just about to go to Chemistry class if you wanted to come along?"

"No, thank you, Flash." The way that Harley said 'Flash' sent a shiver crawling up Peter's spine. He was finding it particularly hard to bite back the grin that came with a stuttering Flash. "You're only talking to me because there are photos of me all over the fucking media. I have friends already, thank you very much."

In moments like this, If Wanda were there, Peter would've sent her the footage. Actually, as Ned walked up to them, practically bouncing off the walls from excitement, Peter held out an arm as Flash replied to Harley. "I-I don't know what you're t-talking about." 

"Sweet," Harley smiled sickly. "Bye now."

When Flash ran off, clearly intimidated by Harley, Peter pulled Ned forward. "Ned, meet Harley. Harley, meet Ned." 

Harley and Ned shook hands, both Harley and Peter continued to grin as Ned bounced around. "It's so nice to meet you, Harley, Peter talks about you and Mr Stark all the time! I like how you scared off Flash, that was badass." 

"Thanks, Ned," Harley looked down at his watch before glancing at Peter. "Your dad is messaging me."

Peter's own watch hadn't gone off that morning. Why was his dad texting Harley and not him? "What's he saying?" 

"That I'm better than you?" A lazy smirk was dancing on his lips as Peter stared at him. "I'm joking, _god_ — he wants to know if I'm staying for your Decathlon practice?" 

"You're joining, right?" Peter asked, closing his locker and leaning against it. His cheeks were flushed from the sheer heat of the school, but also from the sheer proximity between him and Harley. "You'll be good at it." 

Harley was taller than Peter— _fucking Stark men genes_ — and so he looked down at him, a hand ruffling Peter's hair. "That's from your dad." He grinned, licking his lips. "And yeah, Pete, I'll join your team." 

Peter lit up like a child at Christmas, his lips were tugged into a beam. Harley felt his insides go all warm. "Harls— you'll love it! Mj, our Captain, will love having another kid genius on the team."

As they walked into Peter's chemistry class, Mr Harrington pulled Harley to the front so he could introduce himself to everyone. Peter knew that Harley didn't have a problem with speaking to mass groups of people, so he just smiled as he watched him fumble around with his watch as he stood at the front. 

( _It reminds him of Presentation day at SI, Harley would send Peter photos of memes through their watches to keep them entertained_.)

When everyone was sat down and staring, Mr Harrington clapped Harley on the back. "This is our new student, I'll let him introduce himself." 

( _Peter loved seeing Harley so flustered. He thinks that his own presence is what is making him like that, but the irrational part of him is completely and utterly denying the fact that he could ever make Harley Keener stutter_.) 

"Uh— I'm Harley Keener, you all have probably seen the photos of me with Tony Stark so, yeah, I moved in with him and his family from Tennessee. I’ve known him since I was like twelve when he broke into my garage when he was fighting the Manderin.”

( _At the mention of the Manderin, a chill raced down Peter’s back._ )

Flash's hand shoots into the air, a smug grin lacing his features. Peter inwardly groans, knowing that the question isn't going to be anything good. From the way that Harley looks at him, Peter is honestly surprised that Flash hasn't turned to dust on the spot. "Do you know the interns at SI, then?"

"Some of them. I am one of them." 

"Do you know Peter Parker?" 

"Obviously," He drawls, mirroring Professor Snape from Harry Potter. "Peter is my 'buddy' as your principal put it. I've hung out with him loads of times."

Another girl shoots up her hand before twisting her hair around her finger. Peter's stomach drops at her obvious attraction to Harley. _Harley's gay right? Right? Peter doesn't even remember Harley coming out, god, what if Betty gets with him?_ "How come you go here and not some fancy private school that Mr Stark's son goes to?"

Harley makes eye contact with Peter and bites his lip. "I don't see how that's relevant." 

_Huh_. Definitely not relevant when Harley is staring at Peter like that. Nothing in the world could ever be relevant other than _Harley fucking Keener_. 

Also, Tony Stark’s son definitely did not go to a ‘fancy private school’ because Tony Stark’s son went to a STEM high school revolving around Science and Tech, _thank you very much._

Peter’s cheeks instantly flush red under Harley’s gaze, making him duck his head and look at his lap.

“Do you know Mr Starks son?”

“Yeah, we’re close.”

_Like brothers_.  

Harley doesn’t need to say it for Peter to hear it being whispered around him. 

“Not like brothers though, that would be weird.”

In his head, Harley adds ‘ _Considering the fat crush I have on his son, I’m not sure that our bond can be considered brotherly_ ’. He’s not too sure if it came across that way, but he certainly wasn’t going to say something like that in _public_. 

Another girls hand goes up. She’s pretty, there’s a pink tint to her cheeks. Almost bashful. “Will you go to homecoming with me?”

The girls around her— presumably her friends, Harley doesn’t know, and Harley certainly _doesn’t care_ — giggle.

“Sorry, I don’t swing that way if you get what I’m saying?”

”I don’t understand?”

Under his desk, Peter taps out a message that will instantly transfer to Harley’s watch. 

web-slinger peter: are you staying up there for the shits and giggles or are you going to come out all over again but publicly?

As Harley opens his mouth to speak, he looks at his watch and reads Peter’s message. The beginning of his words are coated with thick laughter. Peter grinned. “I mean I’m very much gay, sorry, darlin’.”

The girl turned even more red than she already was and Mr Harrington took that as his queue to usher Harley back to his seat next to Peter. 

When he sat down, he leaned into Peter’s ear, instantly feeling him tense up. “The answer to your question, darlin’, was _all_ of the above.”

At this rate, chills running down his spine was going to become a second nature. He could get used to that. 

* * *

Decathlon practice ran fifteen minutes longer than it should’ve, and Harley had no problem reminding the rest of the team that they had to get to their ‘ _internship_ ’. 

Peter kicked his legs every time he said that. 

Flash was being Flash, as usual, but he seemed reluctant to call Peter _Penis_ , as he did. Maybe Harley freaked him out? Peter didn’t know, but he was grateful that he didn’t need to restrain Harley from attacking someone. 

When they got home, his dad was locked away in his office, which was rarely even used. Peter guessed that something was happening with the Rogues and the Accords, but even at the mention of them, his heart just begged for Wanda to come home. 

He missed Nat too. He definitely did not miss Steve, at all, but he missed Sam, Clint too. Actually, he missed all of Cap’s team apart from Cap and his fucking friend. 

“FRIDAY, what is Tony doing in his office?” 

“Boss is currently opening mail. There seems to be a letter for you, Peter, from Miss Maximoff.”

Peter’s heart lurched and he stumbled forward, looking desperately at the closed door. “W-what? Wanda—“

The door suddenly opened and his dad stepped out, a letter in his shaking hands. He looked at his son, and _god_ , Peter looks so vulnerable. His eyes were wide and glassy, his cheeks were a dark red, and his fingers were twisting at his sides, an anxious habit. “You have a letter, buddy. I think it’s from Wanda.”

Peters mouth was too dry to even respond, so he just took the letter and ripped it open, almost crushing it in his shaky hands. 

_Peter, little one, I hope you’re Okay._

_The last time I saw you, you were crying for Colonel Rhodes and bleeding everywhere, I’m sorry I couldn’t stay with you. I hope Rhodes is Okay._

_I’m not going to go into the details of the Raft because I’m sure you know all about it, but Peter, I miss you. It was horrible, and all I could think about was you, Vision and home._

_I hope you and Harley haven’t destroyed our blanket fort, it still serves as your ‘comfort station’, just because I’m gone it doesn’t mean it’s any less worthy of you using it. Tell your dad to use it too, he has heart problems you know._

_Natasha misses you. She won’t write a letter, it’s not her thing, but I needed to write to you. You’re angry, I know you are, but we’re trying to come back. Steve and Bucky too._

_I miss you so much, Pete._

_Wanda._

He didn’t even feel Harley gripping his shoulders and holding his hands as he sunk to the floor. In any other situation, his heart would have leapt out of his throat, but now, his heart was breaking.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is so cute??? i’m so proud of it????
> 
> Even though it only spans across like two days, it really sets up the relationship between Harley and Peter, and it does give small hints to when the rogues (cough, nat and wanda) will be back. 
> 
> All I can say is, prepare for angst in the next chapter. There will be a time jump too. 
> 
> (comments are appreciated!)


	5. Peter’s protocols

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You're the spider-dude? I didn't expect you to be so young."
> 
> "And I didn't expect you and your boyfriend to leave my dad to bleed out in Siberia but here we are. Now, we'll be on our way, I believe Legally Blonde is ready for us to watch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, Peter fucking snapped and Steve had it coming

It was one thing to have a secret identity, but it was two whole new problems to have two secret identities. It’s safe to say that Peter was having an identity fucking crisis.

Here’s the thing, the Rogues have been pardoned ( _he can’t decide whether that’s good or not, but at least Wanda can come home_ ), and now that Peter is fifteen, he really needs to think about when Tony Stark’s son is going to be introduced to the world. In his dad’s eyes, that would be never, but realistically, he can’t be kept out of the limelight for his _entire_ life.

(" _You’re my fucking baby, if I want to keep you out of the press for your entire life then I will!”_

 _“I hope you know that you’re being ridiculous and you can’t actually do that!”_ )

Also, sometimes the fact that he is a billionaire influences the way he speaks or looks in school. It’s pretty fucking easy to forget about being a supposed broke orphan when his dad constantly buys him designer clothes. _Actually_ , Peter didn’t have the heart to care anymore. Harley was constantly with him at school, so, who cares if he wears an Armani sweatshirt every now and again?

Speaking of Harley, in the two months passed ( _since Peter got the letter from Wanda and had an emotional breakdown in the fucking kitchen_ ), a lot had happened. Peter was still too much of a fucking pussy to start anything between the two of them, so no one was really surprised when Harley came home from school telling them about a boy he’d met in his English class ( _Peter wasn’t in that fucking class_ ).

In all fairness, the two of them _weren’t_ together, so Harley was at perfect liberty do date whoever he wanted to. That didn’t mean that Peter wanted him to, or approved of the blonde haired kid in Harley’s class because he didn’t.

Long story fucking short, Harley had this fling with this kid, but he and Peter still talked every day. Peter hadn’t met the blonde kid, but he wanted to punch his fucking lights out when Harley came into his room crying at midnight a few weeks ago saying how the boy was straight and how it was all a dare.

But, yeah, _that was that_ , and Peter was getting tired of waiting to get angry at Steve in person. _God_ , he’s fucking excited to knock the man out, but he couldn’t bring himself to wait two more hours. Wanda was picking him and Harley up from school, and the simple thought of her being back with them made him want to cry. 

They were in Chemistry now, and Mr Harrington was droning on and on about something that the two of them had learned already by spending five minutes with his dad. It really wasn’t a shock that as soon as Harrington left the room to speak to Principal Morita, the whole class burst into fits of laughter and whispers. The class was boring, and Peter had been sending Harley memes through their watches for most of it, making them grin or laugh randomly throughout the past thirty minutes or so. It was great, really, but the anxiety just kept on tugging at Peter's stomach. 

Something about seeing Steve and Barnes made him anxious. He didn't know whether it was the fact that he could get an urge to knock out both of them or what. It was scaring Harley, anyway, and Peter kept biting at his nails and checking the messages on his watch like he was expecting something to be there. There never was, not since the whole Civil War thing went down. The only messages he gets now are from Harley, Ned and his parents ( _and Happy whenever he's running late_ ), and he tries to make it sound less sad than it actually is, but in all fairness, it is _pretty_ sad. 

"Hey, Peter," Ned popped up in front of their desk, his eyes were shifting around the people surrounding them. "There's this crazy car parked outside—“

Peter scrambled out of his seat, rushing toward the window. Stood on the curb, leaning against a slick black Audi, was his dad and Wanda. His lip quivered at the sight of her, and it took every ounce of strength in his body to not rush out of the classroom. Harley instantly had his hands on Peter's shoulders, thumbs rubbing against the sweater covered skin. "Should we leave? Wanda looks ready to run in here just to see us." 

As far as Mr Harrington was concerned, Peter got 'sick' and they had to leave, but the man wasn't even in the classroom, so the two of them picked up their bags and ran through the school hallways. Once outside, Peter's running slowed into a stop. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly before rushing forward. Harley lingered behind them, just smiling and watching as they stood, wrapped up in each other's arms. It was a beautiful thing, really. Peter and Wanda were so, so close, anyone with two eyes could see that they were practically brother and sister. 

It was beautiful, _really_. But when they got home, the Tower was a fucking mess, to say the least. Sam and Clint had claimed Mario Kart ( _what the fuck? They'd been home three hours and had already beaten Peter and Ned's high scores_ ), all the Vent's were open and there were bags sprawled across the entire living room too. Also, one thing that Peter had definitely _not_ missed was the way that Steve left his shield laying around like it was a pair of fucking _shoes_. 

"Good Afternoon, Peter and Harley, welcome home," FRIDAY said, making everyone turn to look at them. Peter kept a stoney look on his face, deliberately looking everywhere but the couch where Steve and Barnes were. They sat up slightly ( _Barnes had his head in Steve's lap?_ ), looking at the two boys. "Karen tells me that your heart rate is elevated, Peter, would you like me to activate the _Wheezing penguin_ protocol?" 

"No, FRIDAY, I'm fine," He snapped, letting his backpack fall to the floor. He looked down at his watch, taping it twice to send their special SOS message to each other. Harley snorted from beside him, tapping at his own watch. "Fri, activate the sleeping spider and—“ he sent a wink to Wanda. "— wicked witch protocol." 

"It has been activated, Peter. You, Harley and Miss Maximoff have exactly three minutes to be in your room." 

"That's new," Nat called out, turning to look at them with hits of a smile on her face. "You look different, Stark." 

Tony and Peter looked at each other. "Which one?" They asked at the same time, grinning at each other. From the glare sent his way by Nat, Tony winced. "Oh, you meant Spider-ling.”

Barnes spoke up. "You're the spider-dude?" His voice was soft and almost calming, but the anger bubbling in Peter's stomach overrode that by _far_. "I didn't expect you to be so young."

"And I didn't expect you and your boyfriend to leave my dad bleeding in Siberia but _here we are_ ," Peter smiled, and it was almost sickly how sarcastic it was. "Now, we'll be on our way, I believe Legally Blonde is ready for us to watch."

Harley clapped his hands together and picked up Peter's backpack ( _that kid has no sense of how to keep his fucking belongings together_ ), trailing after him. When Peter stopped, Harley looked up, eyes widening at Steve stood in front of them. Okay, that man was fucking _huge_ , and Harley was intimidated big fucking time. He didn't understand how Peter wasn't shitting his pants, but then again, Peter was as strong as Steve was. 

"You better get out of my fucking way."

"Peter—“

"Don't say my fucking name. I need to do homework, move out of my way." 

"You're going to watch a _movie_ —“

"Yeah and if you don't move out of my fucking way then the stupid protocol will time out for _two weeks_ —“

"You don't need a protocol to watch a movie—“

"And you didn't need to almost kill my dad but you fucking did it anyway didn't you, Steve?" Peter snapped then, his breathing heavy and hitching. "Just move out of my way."

"You have to understand—“

"I have to understand what, Steve? I have to understand that my dad has been disappearing since I was _six_ and I never knew if he was going to come home alive or not? Or do I need to understand that someday I'm not going to have a dad because he'll be dead? Do you ever fucking think how scary that is for me? I go to bed every night terrified that the people I love are going to be killed because of me or my fucking actions. You don't understand shit, you never have." 

" _The sleeping Spider and wicked witch Protocol has timed out, Peter. You seem to be very distressed, would you like me to activate the lullaby protocol_?" 

"Not now, FRIDAY," Tony whispered, getting closer to his son. He'd seen Peter like this before. So angry that his shoulders and hands would shake. It would come crashing down in one minute, _probably_ , and he'd just have a few panic attacks and breakdown, it always happened like that. Tony and Nat were the only ones who had ever seen him like that, even Harley hadn't, but now all of the Avenger's probably would. He didn't want Peter to go through that, so he rushed forward and clasped his hands onto Peter's shoulders. "Hey, _buddy_ , why don't we go to your room and video call mom, huh? She's in England, I'm sure she'll want to speak to you."

Feeling so utterly lifeless and weak, Peter turned around and collapsed into his dad's arms, nodding his head slowly. He didn't want to speak, he was so scared that if he did and he started crying, he would never stop. There were so many emotions just bottled up. Everything with Harley ( _the blonde boy_ ), his parents arguing, his mom constantly leaving, the nightmares, PTSD, just everything felt like it was hurting him. 

As they were leaving, all Peter could hear was the Avengers talking and Harley shouting at them, and even with the emotional overload, his senses were going haywire until Tony pulled Peter on top of him, resting Peter's head on his sternum. "Activate the lullaby protocol, FRIDAY." 

The room was clothed in darkness and a soothing purple tint was projected, instantly making Peter's eyes flutter closed as he listened to his dad's heartbeat. When he was young, maybe seven or eight, he'd lay, just how he was, and study at the Arc Reactor. 

( _"That's my nightlight forever, daddy!"_ ) 

 

* * *

 

"Ah, the dead has finally woken."

"Haven't missed you watching me sleep, I can tell you that." 

He could hear her grinning through her words. "I didn't miss your snoring."

"I mean, no one asks you to watch me sleep." 

"Helps keep me calm."

Peter sat up and rubbed at his eyes before looking to his left, where Nat was sprawled across the couch in his room. "I missed you." 

"You didn't hear it from me, but she missed you too, squirt."

His dad shifted underneath him and, eventually, pushed him off. "Hey!" Peter whined, pouting as he sat on the cold side of the bed. Nat rolled her eyes again, but there was a hint of a smile on her lips. "Ha! Your smiling! Dad, she's smiling!" 

"God, Pete, you cracked the case of Natasha Romanoff. You know, I think you're the only person who can make her smile."

Nat didn’t say anything more on the topic. Instead, she leaned forward, staring straight into Peter’s eyes. “What’s going on between you and Keener?”

”N-nothing. I don’t know what... what you’re talking a-about—“

”Yeah, that’s bullshit, Stark.”

Peter sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I don’t know.”

Her expression softened. “Talk with him, you’re never going to end up together if you ignore the way you feel.”

”Pete— buddy, I know that Harls likes you too, and you know that he likes you, just make a move,” Tony told him, a hand reaching up to rub circles on his sons back. “Besides, if you keep waiting then another boy like the one a few months ago will come along and be with him before you are.”

”What boy a few months ago?” Natasha asked. Her voice went from soft to protective, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. 

“Harley said that there was this boy in his English class that liked him, and Harley liked him too, but a few days later he came home crying about how the boy was actually straight and was dared to ask out Harley.”

( _So, maybe they shouldn’t have told Natasha that story because, maybe, just maybe, she’d go on an angry rampage to ruin the kid’s life for hurting Harley_ ). 

Her jaw clenched as she looked away from them, already seeming to create some type of plan in her head. “What’s his name? What does he look like?”

”We don’t know, Harley never told us,” Tony supplied, shrugging slightly. “All we know is that he’s in the kids English class and has blonde hair.”

She stood up, moving toward the door. “Good enough for me.” 

And she left. 

It was odd, really. Natasha has never been the type to be even remotely interested in anything to do with children, but Peter just seemed to have clicked with her. She looked out for him, she really did, and Tony was convinced that she loved him. 

She had an odd way of showing it. But, that was just Natasha. The other Avengers cared for him too, Tony knew they did, and they each had their own ways of showing just how much they cared.

 _God_ , Wanda was the best with Peter. After losing her twin brother, Tony knew she was lost. She didn’t know how to find her way back home again, and so Tony introduced her to Peter. He didn’t know how to explain it, but they both just clicked, like clockwork. He knew how grounded Wanda kept Peter, how she was the main responder to the _Wheezing Penguin Protocol_ — a protocol designed to bring Peter down from panic attacks—, and when she was away, Tony realised just how much her absence was affecting him. 

Peter didn’t need to know that the reason he found the motivation to work on the accords was because of him. Actually, Peter didn't need to know that the reason Tony had the motivation to do anything was simply because of his existence in his life. 

It was the same for Peter really. There were very few people in his life that he trusted with his life ( _his dad, Wanda, his mom, Natasha, and Harley_ ), and those people were the closest to him. They were responders to his Protocols, they had access to his lab, to his room, they could override his protocols, they could effectively do anything. Of course, he trusted the other Avengers, but he wasn't very close to them, not like he was with his family. 

"What's happening, sluts?" 

They both looked to the doorway, Tony groaning as he made out the silhouette of Harley just stood there, staring right at them. "Who are you calling a _slut_?"

" _Genius, billionaire, playboy—“_

" _Ok_ , I get it, short-stack."

"I'm taller than you, old man. Try again." 

Tony huffed in defeat, arms crossing in front of his chest. "The fact that you're taller than me is honestly _heartbreaking_ —“

"You are so dramatic," Petter giggled and Harley felt his heart just stop. Peter fucking Stark just _giggled_ right in front of him and he felt _attacked_. "I'm taller than you, dad." 

"No, you're not." 

"You're right. I'm not." 

When his dad left, a mere five minutes later, Harley was doing his best ( _bless him_ ) to keep Peter’s mind off of the situation, he didn't need to be a fucking expert to know that Tony was trying to guide his son away from a panic attack, so Harley followed suit. Wanda didn't end up coming in like she had planned, either. She saw the two boys together and decided to let them be. Quickly enough, they were wrapped up in each other's arms, Star Wars projected onto Peter's wall. 

It was rare they had quiet moments like this. Despite Peter’s rather obvious anger at Steve, he was calm in those moments, his chest rising and falling at a normal pace. Maybe Harley just made him feel at ease, he didn’t really know, but he would accept anything that would take his fucking mind off of the fact that the two people who almost caused his dad's death was in their home. 

“Thank you,” Peter mumbled, sitting up so he could look at Harley.

Harley reached out, brushing stray curls from Peter’s forehead. “For what?”

“Keeping me grounded.” As Peter leaned into Harley’s touch, his heart hammered in his chest. “You were with me when Wanda couldn’t be, that’s something I’m so grateful for.”

He didn’t need to reply anything to know that Harley really did want to be there with him, and as Peter watched Harley’s eyes flicker between his lips and his own eyes, Peter wanted nothing more than to simply just be close to Harley. Natasha had told him to make a move, and that was what he was going to do. 

So he kissed him.

It wasn’t rushed or sloppy, it was slow and timid, everything that Peter was when he was in a sad mood. It was just _so them_. Star wars playing quietly in the background, Harley’s hands holding either side of Peter’s face as their lips moved together. It was everything Harley hoped kissing Peter would be like and more.

When Peter pulled back, a blush coating his pale cheeks, he smiled bashfully, looking down at his hands. “Anyone ever told you that you’re an exceptional kisser, Mr Keener?”

Harley only laughed, his head tilting back slightly, and pulled Peter in again. 

It's safe to say that it's very easy to forget about Steve when Harley Keener was kissing him. _Very_ easy, indeed. 

However, when the morning came and Peter’s alarm went off at exactly six thirty ( _"Good Morning, Peter" FRIDAY gets enjoyment from waking him up at the ass crack of dawn for school_ ), Harley whined and pushed his face into Peter’s neck, wishing he could stay wrapped up with Peter forever. It was hard to not think about the night before, about how Peter's lips felt, and Harley seriously thinks that there will be a permanent blush on his cheeks for the rest of his fucking life. 

"We have to go to school, Harls—“

"— wanna stay with you," Harley mumbled into Peter's neck, lips pressing a soft kiss to his skin. "You're warm." 

Peter laughed and pulled himself out of Harley's grip and, as Peter rolled out of bed and started to get ready, Harley simply laid there and watched him, a stupid grin on his face. " _What_?" Peter asked, a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. 

Harley shrugged, standing up himself to get ready. He swiped a sweatshirt off of the floor and slipped it on, grinning at the smell of it. _Peter_. It was _his_ Stark Industries sweatshirt, and his initials were embroidered onto the chest, right below the SI logo. 

The _P.A.S_ was clear against the black sweatshirt, and with the rate that Harley was heading, in an hour or two everyone would know that Harley was dating Peter without actually knowing that it was Peter. He took to Twitter first, grinning as Peter looked down to his watch at the notification from Harley tweeting. 

 ** _Harls_** _@harley_keens_

_for ur very valuable info, tony stark's son is a very good kisser 10/10 would kiss again_

The only problem they would face was, with the fact that Harley announced their relationship on twitter, they couldn't be together in school either. His identity was a fucking _secret_ for a reason, and he'd _like_ to keep it that way. Aunt May and his mom had enrolled him at Midtown Tech when his dad was in Sokovia, and he didn't want to be moved to a whole new school because of his identity. 

When the both of them were ready and had all of their school books, Harley slipped his hand into Peter's as they stood around in the kitchen, waiting for FRIDAY to announce who was taking the two of them to school.

"Your hand is fucking clammy," Peter complained, pulling his hand from Harley's grip. He inspected it, fake gagging at the beads of sweat in his palms. " _Disgusting_."

"You weren't saying that last night, darlin'."

Peter's head snapped toward him, his eyebrows raised. "No, I _specifically_ remember kissing you and telling you that your sweaty hands were making my back feel _weird_."

 Their bickering was cut short as his dad wandered into the room, grinning instantly at the sight of them. "My baby had his first kiss, huh? I really am getting _old_ —“

"I've been telling you that for years," Harley mumbled, ducking out of the way as Tony swiped for him. "That's actually child-abuse—"

" _That's actually child-abuse_ ," He mimicked the kid, hands reaching out to ruffle his son's hair. “I’m surprised you’re not wondering how I knew that you two kissed.”

”Oh I was wondering that,” Harley hummed. “You a fucking creep now?” 

“FRIDAY told me, did you really think there wasn’t some sort of protocol set up?” 

Peter spluttered, staring at his dad with red cheeks. “You’re _unbelievable_!” 

He wasn’t _mad_ , he was actually kind of touched. He could never bring himself to be mad at his dad about that. He was planning on  telling his dad anyway, he told him everything, and so by him already knowing, it was a weight off his shoulders.

They were still weighed down though, and that was something that not even being with Harley could fix.

It was just a matter of time before he broke again, and not even Wanda or Harley— _or his dad for that matter_ — would piece him back together. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't fucking decide whether i like this chapter or not, that's partly why it took me so long to upload it. to be fair, i was on holiday in paris too but i really should've had it up before. 
> 
> also, i needed to have harley and peter get together in this part because of the events that i have scheduled to come up, and they're really not as funny and whitty as other chapters, either, so sorry about that.
> 
> again, comments are appreciated!!


	6. News from hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Stark.” 
> 
> “Mr Stark, Peter is asking for you.” 
> 
> “No, he isn’t.” 
> 
> “He said Stark.”
> 
> ”He said Stark because you asked him what his last name was, tic tac.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe angst :)

When Mr Harrington held them behind after Decathlon practise the day after he and Harley got together, Peter really wasn’t sure what to expect. As usual, he had a headache ( _the lights in the fucking library were way too bright_ ), Harley was off school because he was ‘ _sick_ ’ ( _that was a fucking lie if Peter had ever heard one before. Harley just wanted an excuse to work in the lab with his dad_ ), and their practice had run thirty minutes over schedule. Worst of all, Happy would not stop texting him, his watch lit up every five minutes with a new text for him to reply to.

 ** _Happy isn't very happy:_** _Come on kid, I don't have all day_.

“Drumroll everyone!” Mr Harrington called out, a slow grin making its way onto his face. Did he think that this torture was _fair_? “As a present for being an outstanding Decathlon team, we have been awarded a field trip to… Stark Industries!”

Peter’s jaw went slack and he stared at Harrington with absolute horror written all over his face. Flash got so excited so quickly that he fell out of his chair ( _that was worthy of a quiet snort from Peter, but he was too hung up on the trip_ ), and Ned looked like he was going to burst with excitement. Peter was not excited. At all. In fact, he would go as far as to say that he probably wanted to die. 

( _If his dad ever knew that Peter thought that, he'd kill him himself_.)

He had to get a permission slip signed to go home. _Home_. _His home_. The home of the _Avengers_. Only this would happen to him, stupid fucking _Stark luck™_. Or, Parker luck as Ned and MJ would say. He could already hear the beginning of Flash’s taunts, he could hear the teasing and laughter from the other Avengers. But, honestly, if Steve or Barnes even dared to join their conversation on this, Peter would knock both of them out. 

He should really lock away any baby photos his dad has of him. _Yeah_ , that’s a good idea. As they left the library, and by default the school, Peter turned to Ned. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ned looked like he wanted to say something, but he simply nodded and turned in the other direction, sending Peter a wave over his shoulder. Peter felt kind of bad, really. He hadn't spent a lot of time with Ned lately, and with everything with the Rogues and Harley, he felt so distracted. But now, god now, he had the Field Trip to worry about, and the last time he went on a field trip, he was bitten by a radio-active Spider. Field trips never did really work in his favour, so he wasn't expecting much of this one. 

When he got home, Harley was waiting for him with his dad in the lab, like he hadn't fucking skipped school and left Peter alone all day. “You left me alone in decathlon. Has anyone ever told you that you’re a fucking dick?”

Harley looked up, an amused expression written all over his face. "Yes. _You_. Multiple times, my ever loving boyfriend."

Safe to say, Peter was not happy. _At all_. He knew damn well that everyone would be in the tower at the time of their field trip, and it didn't help that everyone believed that Harley had an 'internship' with SI, but not Peter.

( _"We only believe Harley because he has actually been seen with Mr Stark himself."_ ) 

( _Peter could tell them thousands of stupid fucking stories about Mr fucking Stark that are actually true and no one would believe him. Was Harley some type of angel or what?_ )

( _Actually, Harley was some sort of fucking angel but that's unimportant and not the point._ )

"As a present for doing well in Decathlon, Harrington is taking us on a field trip."

"Better not be to fucking Oscorp," His dad grumbled, spinning around in his chair to look at his son. Peter stared at him, permission slip in his hands. "What? Last time you went to that fucking place you were bitten by a radioactive spider. _Excuse me_ for being concerned about my son's wellbeing."

Ignoring him, Peter handed one of the slips to Harley. "This is absolute fucking shit, you hear me? This is worse than that time Ned _farted_ in an elevator at some council building. This is the pinnacle of a shit situation, and I've been in a few, Harley!"

Harley turned to Tony, a horrified look on his face. "We're coming here on the trip. Who approved this? You fucking _dick_!"

Tony blanked for a minute before bursting into laughter. "I have to sign for you two to come home? Fucking brilliant—“

A small whine sounded through the lab. " _Dad_! This isn't funny!" 

Tony bit back his laughter as he crossed the lab toward Peter. "It is kind of funny, Pete if you think about it." 

"Frankly, I don't want to think about it, _thanks_."

"Web-slinger's right, old man, this is fucking _horrific_ for us."

Peter sighed, letting his backpack drop to the floor. "Can we just not go and stay home all day?" 

"So you can make out? I don't think so, slingshot."

Somehow, Peter doesn't think that he's going to get away with not going on this fucking field-trip, and he can already hear Flash teasing him. It would be absolute torture, really, and he didn't want to deal with it. If Harley was going, it would make things better, but that certainly wouldn't distract him from the fact that the Avengers would be looming around most corners. 

"What's crawled up their asses?" 

"Field trip." 

"Oh, _that_ field trip." 

Peter whipped around, staring at Wanda. "You knew?"

( _Traitor_.)

She grinned. "Of course. I don't facetime Pepper for nothing, Pete." 

"My own mother." Harley has to laugh at Peter in this situation. He doesn't think he's ever seen the boy look for betrayed and horrified in his entire life. "I thought I could trust her." 

"Oh, kid, you can _never_ trust Pep. I thought we established this years ago?" 

"What? When she threatened to take away _your_ suits and then actually did it?" Peter raised an eyebrow. "Sound's like you established this one, dad. Not me." 

" _Sound's like you established this—“_

"You have a fucking mimicking problem. Are you a _parrot_?" Harley asked. "No, seriously, I'd love to know."

" _No, seriously, I'd love to know_."

Harley's jaw could only go slack as Tony continued to grin at the three of them. "You have some serious fucking issues, tin-man."

"Believe me, Keener, I know."

 

* * *

 

"Karen, is anyone on comms?" 

"The ' _family show_ ' connection is live, and is currently running all members apart from you, Peter.”

"Sync me." 

It was a shit show through the ears, effectively. Always was. The comms connection consisting of him, Harley and his dad ( _and Rhodey, sometimes_ ) were constantly running and both boys almost always connected to it when Peter was patrolling. His dad had created it when Peter was just starting as Spider-man, Peter knows for a fact that it helps keep his dad's mind at ease. And even now, as he started to get into the swing of patrolling again, his dad almost always had FRIDAY display his tracker in the lab. 

" _I'm just saying, old man, that you need to come out of your fucking cave and eat actual food_." 

" _Who are you calling an old man? Don't you have homework to do?_ "

"So, I left to patrol and everything went to _shit_?" Peter asked, clearly amused. It wasn't actually that surprising, really, considering the relationship that Peter had with his dad, it was quite often that things went to shit. "Seriously, what's going on?" 

"Uh," Harley's voice trailed off and Peter heard him clear his throat. The way he spoke was so blunt that it made Peter flinch. "Pepper's back." 

Peter was silent for a minute before replying. "Oh." His voice was small and timid like he was upset that she was back. He wasn't, of course, but it felt a bit weird. He'd missed her a lot, but Peter didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to cope with the coming and going before he would break. And once he broke, the gates would sure as hell be opened, and he didn't know if he would ever stop. "I'm— I'm going to come home. It's quiet anyway." 

"Okay, buddy," His dad's smooth voice settled something inside of him. Like it always had.

For the rest of his swing, the comms remained completely silent. None of them felt like they needed to say anything until they knew that Peter was safe and back inside of the tower, and his only convenient entrance was the balcony door into the living room, where the Rogues ( _and Harley, apparently?_ ) were watching a film. As he tore off his mask and shot a glare at Steve, he looked to his boyfriend. "Where's— uh— where's dad?"

"Lab."

Peter moved to the side as Harley craned his neck to look at the TV, which Peter seemed to be blocking slightly. Was he being an inconvenience? Harley's short answer made him anxious, and he wondered if he did anything wrong. It wouldn't surprise him though if he had that is. Peter had a history of fucking things up, but fucking things up between him and Harley was something he never wanted to happen. They were perfectly fine before Peter went on patrol, and he didn't understand why Harley was being blunt with him now that he was back. _God_ , they'd been together for one whole day, and he was already fucking up. "Harley?" 

It shouldn't have been surprising when FRIDAY made his presence known to the whole residential floors, let alone to announce his oncoming panic attack that he’d been ignoring."Engaging the _Wheezing Penguin protocol_ , your assistance is required, Miss Maximoff." 

The TV shut down almost instantly and the lights dimmed down, sending murmurs across all of the Rogues who didn't understand the Protocol. Wanda had unwrapped herself from Natasha and stood in front of him, hands smoothing his shoulders against the fabric of his suit. "What's going on?" She muttered, waiting a few seconds for a response before speaking again. "Peter?" 

"FRIDAY? dad?" He tore himself out of her grip, stumbling through the mess of blankets on the floor before quickly walking to the Lab. 

"In the Lab, Peter. _Wheezing Penguin protocol_ deactivating and _Octopus Time Protocol_ activating." 

( _Okay, the name of his and his dad's cuddle-time protocol was a little embarrassing, but in all honesty, it was fitting. When Peter was upset, he always went full octopus on whoever was comforting him._ )

Pressing a hand to the biometric scanner, Peter bit back a whimper as the doors opened slowly, making him dancing around on the spot before running forward and letting the doors close behind him. 

Harley gulped and turned back around as the lights went back to normal and the film resumed, but he could feel Nat and Wanda staring at him, and he didn't know what to do about it. 

Peter hadn't done anything wrong, of course, he hadn't, it was just Harley's anxiety playing up in his mind. One of his friends in his English class had sent him a crack edit of Spider-man dying and something inside of him snapped. He didn't mean to take it out on Peter, he really didn't, but now that Peter was in the Lab and the Octopus Time Protocol was engaged, he couldn't do anything until Peter came out, even if he did have the clearance to override the protocol. He could be waiting hours, and in all fairness, he was. 

The second Tony saw Peter stumbling toward him, eyes red and tears threatening to fall, he held him arms out and guided them to the couch in the middle of the room, letting his son curl into his side. A hand automatically went to Peter's hair, his fingers working their way through the tangled curls. "What's going on, bud?" 

"Harley's mad." 

His voice was so soft that Tony thought his heart was going to melt on the spot. Instead, it rolled and clenched in his chest. Only half an hour prior, Harley was gushing to Tony about how much he liked Peter. Needless to say, he was really fucking confused, he tried to be comforting though. "Huh?" 

"Don' wanna speak about it," Peter nuzzled farther into his dad's chest, staring at the area where the Arc Reactor used to sit. He missed it, sometimes. The feeling of his dad's heartbeat gently thumping in his ear was enough to calm him down, but the blue light emitted from the Arc Reactor was just something else. 

When Peter was four, he used to have nightmares about a monster coming to take his dad away from him, and he'd crawl into Tony's bed almost always. He questioned it, and he'd always be awake when his door was pushed open quietly. Peter would pad in with a stuffed animal clutched in his hands, his whimpering breaking Tony's heart. When he'd settle in his dad's chest, his head resting on his sternum, he'd always say the same thing. 

" _The monster took you away, daddy, please don't go."_

It felt like that situation now, but different. Peter came to him, upset and crying because he thought that Harley was mad at him. He wasn't four anymore, he was fifteen and growing into a better person than Tony ever could be. 

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Peter," Tony mumbled, craning his neck to kiss Peter's hair. "You name it, I'll do it."

"So you'll buy me a sports car?" 

"No." 

"That's hypocritical." 

"Go back to crying." 

Peter smiled fondly and sighed. "You’re nicer when I'm upset. Do I still have to go on the field trip?"

"Yes. Go to sleep, I'm old and tired."

"You got the old part right."

"Go to sleep or I'll sell your legos, squirt.”

 

* * *

 

When the protocol was disengaged and Pepper had turned up for a team-dinner, Peter was ready to talk to Harley. Maybe give him a snog too. He still didn't understand what had happened, but as soon as he left the Lab, Harley wrapped him straight up in his arms and pressed kisses to every area of Peter's face. _Huh_. If he was going to get that response every time he got upset, maybe he should get himself upset more often. "Can we talk?"

Harley followed Peter to his room and clicked the door shut behind him, swallowing his anxiety. "I'm not mad at you, Pete." 

Peter shrugged, his voice small when he replied. "Feels like it."

"Someone from school sent me a video," He started, staring straight into Peter's eyes. "it was an edit of you— of Spider-man— dying. It fucked me up. That's not your fault."

A soft noise emitted from Peter's throat before he forced out a choked laugh. "You're whipped."

"Yeah, I guess I am." 

Harley leaned forward and tugged Peter toward him, instantly bringing their lips together in a fast rhythm. It was so different to their first kiss, which was soft and slow. 

But, the first time they kissed, they were left alone. Not now. Of course they wouldn’t be. Honestly, it was a disgrace ( _to Peter anyway_ ), they were both upset and tired, they deserved some time together before facing the hounds. 

“Boss is requesting your presence in the Dining room.”

With a groan, Harley pulled away from Pete and stood up, holding out his hand. “You’re lucky, Pete. I’ve been with them all day, you haven’t. Clint won’t fucking stop getting into the vents.”

Peter raised an eyebrow, standing up and linking his fingers with Harley’s. “It was your own fucking choice to ditch school,” He grinned. “You’ve been speaking to Clint?”

“Sign language— did we not establish this months ago?”

”I didn’t know you knew it.”

”Baby,” He had a shit-eating grin plastered to his face. “There’s a lot of things you’ll learn.”

Peter turned in the hall and faced him, letting his own smirk fall against his lips. “Oh yeah? Like what—“

” _Can you please sit down so we can fucking eat!_ ” 

“Fuck off, Sam!” Peter shouted back, pressing himself up against Harley and resting his hands on his cheeks. “Just because you’re single and old!”

When they did ( _eventually_ ) sit down for dinner with plump lips and red cheeks, Wanda sent them side-glances, her eyes glinting. “So, boys, when’s your field trip?” 

And what the fuck was she doing? Peter’s stomach fell and a flush rose up his neck. “W-what field trip?”

”Playing innocent now?” His dad remarked, passing him the bowl of vegetables. “Peter and Harley’s decathlon team have been awarded a field trip to Stark Industries.” 

Clint, who wasn’t wearing his hearing aids, grinned and slammed his hand down on the table to get everyone’s attention. “What’s happening?” He signed, too quickly for Harley to understand but enough for the rest of them to. Harley, bless him, was still getting used to the speed that they all signed to each other. 

“Peter and Harley have a field trip here,” Nat told him, grinning herself. She turned to the boys. “I hope you’re not expecting a peaceful day.” 

“I’m getting mom to lock all the vents,” Peter stared right at Clint as he signed. “ _You_ are not coming anywhere near us.” 

“When is the trip?” Sam asked, speaking again. “I’ll have to make sure I’m in town.”

”Sam, we’re on house arrest here. We have no where to go.” Peter looked beside Sam, where the man who spoke was sat. He looked moderately confused, and Peter didn’t recognise him at all. 

“Who are you?”

”Who are _you_?” 

“I’m Spider-man. _Who are you_?” 

“I’m Ant-man.” 

Harley leaned into Wanda. “Do you think they’ll have a scrap because their super-hero names are similar?”

”No.” 

Peter continued to stare at Ant-man until he caved. “What’s your actual name?”

”Scott Lang.” 

( _The lack of in depth answers was making Harley’s head spin._ )

”Interesting.” 

“What’s your actual name?”

”Peter.” 

“Peter what? I told you my last name and I don’t get to know yours?” 

“Stark.” 

“Mr Stark, Peter is asking for you.” 

Everyone short each other amused glances as Tony did so much as glance at Scott. “ _No_ , he isn’t.” 

“He said Stark.”

”He said Stark because you asked him what his last name was, tic tac.”

The shock on Scott’s face was too funny to ignore, so Harley snapped a photo of him. “You’re surprised,” Peter mumbled, reaching for a bread roll. “Why?” 

“I heard Stark had a kid but I thought it was the one next to you!” 

Everyone looked at Harley, and Peter giggled. “Harley Stark.”

“Peter Keener,” Natasha inputted, also signing for Clint, who was just as amused as everyone else. 

Scott took a large bite of his food and looked at Peter again, watching him closely as he ate rather loudly. “So where’s your mom?”

Peter shoved his thumb in the direction of Pepper in the kitchen ( _she was on the phone_ ). “Kitchen.” 

“You slept with Pepper Potts and had a kid?” Scott’s eyes were on the verge of falling out of his head at the way he looked at Tony. 

“No, I didn’t.” 

“Then where’d he come from?” 

It was a touchy subject for Peter, to talk about his biological mom. He didn’t know who she was, at all. She just died and he was left with his dad. He didn’t ever miss her, he hardly thought about her either. It sounds horrid, but he has no memories of her at all. 

“Me.”

From the way that Peter started pushing his food around on his plate, Scott got the memo and shut up, letting Steve talk. 

“So, how was school today?” 

( _Real risky fucking move for Steve to try and start a conversation with Peter._ )

”None of your business.” 

“ _Peter,_ ” His dad’s voice was stern at Peter’s rudeness, making him sigh. 

“It was fine.” 

 “And patrol?” Steve chose to ignore Tony and simply asked him more. “Find any bad guys?”

”It was quiet. So I came back, had a mental breakdown, now I’m here. Happy?” 

 _ **CEO of moms**_ : _should I swoop in and save you, honey?_

Peter could’ve cried when his watch buzzed, and he could hear his mom's heels clicking off of the tiled floor in the kitchen. 

 _ **Peter**_ : _yes please_

She walked in and put her hands on Peter and Harley’s shoulders. “As much as I’m sure that they’d love to stay here, there are some intern forms that need signing downstairs with the intern labs.” 

As they stood up, Tony did too, shooting his son a look before looking down and tapping at his watch. 

_**iron-dad** : so you’re going to leave me with them?_

_**Peter** : come if you want or throw a tantrum ig _

They must’ve looked mental, just stood there tapping away at their watches. “You two don’t know how to have secret conversations.” 

His dad looked at Nat. “You don’t know what we’re talking about.” 

“Correction, Stark, you _think_ I don’t.” 

As they left, Scott broke out into speech again, and as the elevator door closed, they all simultaneously sighed at the man. 

“ _His voice is familiar, have I met him before?”_

“What are we actually doing?” Harley asked, clicking his tongue.

“What I said we were,” Pepper replied, shuffling the papers she held close to her chest. “Some employees in the entrance to the tower have been questioning you two, so we’re filling out forms and getting your clearance cards.”

At the mention of clearance cards, Tony’s eyebrows knitted together. “Why do they need cards?”

”Our private entrance is being shut down for two months, Tony. They need cards to get through the building.”

“They have biometric access.”

”Doesn’t matter.”

The look on her face was enough to shut them up until the elevator doors opened and they walked through to the Intern Labs on the Alpha block. It was pretty empty, other than a select few lab directors, but other than that, everyone had gone home for the night. However, when they entered a meeting room, it was _very_ clear that people had not gone home, they were just waiting for their arrival. 

"Good evening everyone, thank you for staying at such a last minute," Pepper spoke, handing out several pieces of paper to each person in the room. "In front of you are several NDA's, please sign them so we can get started." 

They delved deep then. Peter didn't really listen, to be honest, he was too distracted by the way Harley's muscles looked in the t-shirt he was wearing. Actually, he didn't listen until his mom said his name, and then he tuned in. 

"— Peter and Harley are only just receiving their clearance cards, and to the public eye or anyone who gets into the servers, Peter is a Personal Intern to Mr Stark, not his son." 

"Hold up," Tony interjected, holding a hand up. Peter thinks that he's only just tuned in too. "You just revealed his identity?" 

( _ **harls is a keener** : ten dollars that this will turn into another argument_.)

( _ **web-slinger** : done_.)

In fact, it not only turned into one argument, but it also turned into several. They were all about the same thing, really. Peter. It was ' _Peter this_ ' and ' _Peter that_ ', and he was getting sick of hearing his own fucking _name_. "Oh my god," He groaned, rubbing his eyes. "Stop arguing and sit down. I can look after myself. Plus, dad, it's only some fucking interns, they're not going to tell anyone."

It was the truth. They wouldn't. And they didn't. 

Several hours turned into days and everything was as normal ( _well, as normal as living with the Avengers could be_ ), it was as if there was no inkling that the meeting had even taken place. But, Ned found out about it ( _thanks, Harley_ ) and Peter was sure as hell that his friend would give them both a headache if he got any more excited about their lives and the field trip. 

Peter thinks he might just have to disappear off the face of the earth. That sounds like a good fucking idea. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, i wanted to explain the situation with house arrest here:  
> \- nat and wanda are supposed to be on house arrest, but tony actually removed their bands undetected and put them permanently in the tower  
> \- everyone else is on house arrest in the tower
> 
> Okay, so, if i were to, hypothetically, turn this into a series, and make a side fic of one-shots throughout Peter's childhood and scenes that i didn't put into this fic, would people read it?


	7. It’s a time-bomb, baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I forgot you were a comedian, Keener."
> 
> "You didn't know? Shame on you, mechanic. You know, I thought I brought you up better than this. After all these years since you broke into my fucking garage—" 
> 
> "Yeah, yeah, half-pint, we get it." 
> 
> "I'm fucking taller than you!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhHHhhhHhh here, take this shit

It really didn't take for him to break again, really. They all knew that this wouldn't be the last of it, that it was merely the rain before the fucking storm. He _needed_ his mom there with him. He _needed_ his dad, Wanda, Rhodey, Ned, Harley— he just needed his family there. He'd pushed the thoughts to the back of his brain for so long, and his breakdown in the lab was only the tip of the iceberg. It was coming, and Peter knew it would be explosive. 

Much like he thought, Ned would not _stop_ banging on about the Field Trip, and Peter really did just want to forget about it. Actually, it wasn't just the field trip anymore. Ned got so excited when he saw the boys' clearance passes that he'd talked Peter into sensory overload, and he'd rambled on about the fact that Peter ended up losing sixty-five dollars because of that stupid meeting. Five arguments had stemmed between his parents about five different topics.  _Five_. He didn’t even know what five things they could possibly be arguing about, but he had a sinking feeling that he was the cause of every single one of them, and that was what caused the first fifty dollars to go straight into Harley's pocket. 

The interns, however nice they were, stuttered every time they spoke to him. With Harley, they were completely fine, but with him, he flashed them a smile and they became stuttering messes. His dad called it the Stark charm, but as far as Peter is concerned, there is absolutely no charm within the Stark genes. He wondered how he'd managed to score Harley on the daily. 

( _“You have your dad’s paparazzi smile, Pete.”_ )

Basically, that's how he lost another fifteen dollars. Really, the two of them should stop betting on things, because even if Tony’s money supply was seemingly endless, betting was utterly fucking  _pointless_. 

( _Harley and Clint used it to prove points, and it annoyed Peter and Nat, but they always ended up chipping in any way_.) 

But, really, he hadn’t slept for three days. Not even one _hour_. Sure, he’s had about twenty minutes each night, but with the nightmares, he thinks that his body is saying ‘fuck you’ in every way possible. _Literally_. He didn't know if it was some sort of Karma for, probably, being _him_. Most likely. It wouldn't be surprising, really. He missed his mom so much he felt like he could be sick, and anxiety had been clawing at his head and stomach for what felt like ages, and she was the only person that he just wanted to cuddle with. Perhaps that made him a target for some karma. Pepper had left only one day after the meeting for California, and it was only a three-day trip, so she was expected back that day. 

After having Ned talk his ear off for the day ( _Harley had skipped, yet again. It wasn't all that shocking anymore_ ), his head had been hurting for seven hours by the time Happy dropped him outside of the tower, giving him clear instructions to go to bed and activate the lullaby protocol. Normally, he’d go through their private entrance, but it was closed for maintenance, and so all of them had to use the public and employee one ( _hence the reason for the clearance badges. His dad was still pissed off about them, to be honest, but Peter and Harley had been able to create customisable badges, so it was a bit of a win-lose situation, to be fair_ ). It was kind of stupid, really. Anyone could go into the foyer, and he almost always looked suspicious when he did go through it. 

Rifling through his bag for his pass, Peter’s heart thumped in his chest as he couldn’t feel the cool plastic. “No, no, no—“

”You have left your pass in your bedroom, Peter.”

”I realised that Karen, thanks,” He snapped at his watch. He dug his palms into his eyes, feeling utterly annoyed with himself. “Can I get in without it?”

”No.”

He sunk into a bench, running his fingers through his hair as he thought through the situation. He didn’t have his pass, but surely someone was home? Even if it was Steve or Bucky, he was in so much pain that he'd genuinely couldn't care any less. He didn’t even have a chance to ask Karen who was home, as a security guard was walking up to him. “Can we help you, kid?” 

Peter looked up, glancing over the man. Of course, because he didn’t use this entrance, he wasn’t familiar with the security staff and they weren’t familiar to him. They didn't know who he was, and it put him in a shitty situation. “I’m good, I just forgot my clearance pass. If you let me—“

”Come on, kid, nice try. Do you have anyone to call to get you home?”

 _He was at fucking home_. Peter stood up, lifting his watch. He stared the security guard right in the eyes. “Karen, who’s home?”

”Mr Keener is at home currently, Peter. Everyone was called out for a meeting in Washinton this morning.”

The security guard just stared before gripping tightly onto Peter’s bicep, roughly pulling him along. “You aren’t the first kid to try and get close to the Starks."

( _Starks? As in Plural? He was apart of the fucking Starks_.)

Ignoring him, Peter continued speaking. “Let go of me!” Sometimes, just sometimes, Tony’s power and influence really seep into Peter’s speech ( _like the way he 'accidentally' wears Armani sometimes_ ). “You can lose your fucking job over this— Karen, tell Harley to come down to the public entrance.”

"Mr Keener is on his way. He is also bringing your pass, Peter.”

The guard stopped pulling him and Peter twisted out of his grip, walking back toward the security scanners and elevators. Suddenly, several people were gripping onto him, all security guards. As they pulled him around, his head burned and it felt like his skull was being ripped apart. He had to bite his lip to repress a scream from emerging his throat _because everything hurt so much_. 

As Peter was close to the Security point, FRIDAY became aware of him. “Peter, you seem to be on the verge of sensory overload, should I call Ms Potts?” 

Their grips went slack. “What?” They stared at him, each of their mouths dropped. 

Exiting the elevator, Harley moved toward Peter, pressing a hand carefully to his arm. “Here’s your pass, what’s going on?” Harley merely glanced at the security before looking back at Peter. His eyes were red and bloodshot, and the bags under his eyes were worse than Harley had ever seen them. Not even caring that they were in the entrance to the tower, Harley pressed his hands on Peter’s cheeks. “Darlin’? FRIDAY, when did Peter sleep last?” 

“Peter is currently running on a total of one hour and thirty-seven minutes of sleep in the last three days. He is also about to enter a severe sensory overload. I suggest activating the  _Lullaby Protocol_.”

Harley shot a sharp look at the security guards before holding up Peter’s blue and red pass. “This good enough for you? Fuck off!” 

They reluctantly stalked off, leaving Peter breathing heavily. He clenched his eyes shut, suddenly finding that everything around him was way too bright and it made his head spin. Harley led him to the elevator, letting Peter lean on him as they started going up. He reached up, running fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. “What’s going on?”

”Jus’ a headache,” Peter mumbled, closing his eyes again. “Hurts.”

”Fri?”

”Again, I suggest activating the lullaby protocol.”

”Activate the lullaby protocol in Peter’s room, FRIDAY. Make sure it is completely silent.”

Harley knew that Peter had been having trouble finding himself comfortable ever since Tony was in Siberia, and it had only worsened since the Rogues came back. These overloads, sadly enough, weren't rare, and it broke his heart to have to activate the Overload protocols. And, _god_ , Wanda wasn't even home to lay with him during the Wheezing Penguin protocol. Harley couldn't comfort his own boyfriend if he was having a panic attack and had initiated the Protocol, and even before they were together, Peter had explicitly said that he didn't want people seeing him that way. 

( _Something about the Spider bite making it ten times worse for him_.)

When Harley had led Peter in his bed and made sure he was okay, he settled down next to him, running his fingers through Peter's curls, just watching him as he slept. That was another thing with Peter; when he was emotionally worn out, he fell asleep instantly. It was obvious that he was completely worn out and shattered, so when he fell asleep in Harley's arms, he felt relief flooding through his own body. 

He didn't know how long they'd been led there ( _Harley was drifting in and out of sleep_ ), but just as he was drifting off to sleep again, Peter's door clicked open. "Peter? Honey—"

Harley squinted through the darkness. " _Pepper_?"

She bustled in, slipping out of her heels and sitting down next to them. She placed her hands on Peter's cheeks, looking over his face. "Senses?"

"He hasn't slept in three days. The security in the Lobby wouldn't let him through because he forgot his pass." 

She sighed, her tongue clicking as she reached out to move his curls away from his face. "Harley?" 

Harley looked up at Pepper, humming slightly. "Yeah?"

"You're so good for him. Go to sleep, honey."

Once she was sure that they were both completely asleep, Pepper left Peter's bedroom and took off down the hall, where everyone was arriving home. She put her hands on her hips, looking at them all with raised eyebrows. "And where the fuck have all of you been?"

She didn't let any of them speak. She was on a warpath, they all knew her too damn well than to speak over her. "Peter came home with no pass, with only Harley here to help get him up here, and when he finally did, he had to suffer through a sensory overload because of our security guards! He had to activate protocols! He couldn't even activate that stupid Penguin one because the responders weren't here!"

Tony looked at the ceiling. "Look, Pep—"

"No, Tony. Do you know how I found him in his room?" Her voice cracked. "He was curled in a fucking ball, the lights dulled to a purple tint, with Harley making sure that he didn't have any nightmares! Don't Pep me, Tony. You should have been home. You know what he's going through."

Tony didn't need to answer her. 

* * *

_**Harls** @harley_keens_

_tony starks son is actually an asshole like dont let anyone convince u otherwise_

**_Harls_** _@harley_keens_

_he's too much of a coward to make a twitter account so i can bully him as much as i fucking want thank u very much_

_**you don't know who i am** @starkson_

_jokes on you i've had an account all along. how else do i see ur stupid fucking tweets_

_**Harls** @harley_keens_

_omg tony starks son is a potty mouth_

Beside Peter, Harley threw his head back in laughter and threw his phone across the room, not even giving it a second glance as he looked at his boyfriend. "You really do have a potty mouth! It's getting out of hand actually."

"Oh yeah?" Peter prompted, smirking slightly. "Weren't you the one who cursed at like six security guards only hours ago?"

Harley nudged his forehead against Peter's. "Hey, I was doing it for _you_."

"I guess it can slide," An arm was slung around Harley's neck as Peter climbed into his lap, wrapping his legs around Harley's back. He pressed their foreheads together, looking into each other's eyes. "You are such a little shit." 

"Your little shit, baby." 

"God," Peter fake gagged, screwing his nose up in disgust at the sheer corniness of Harley's words. "You are unbelievably cringy!" 

This was what Peter wanted to feel like all the time. Utter _happiness_. When he'd woken up to Wanda by his bedside, muttering soothing words to him and they'd had a long conversation. It was mainly just Peter talking about how _fucked up_ his head was, and how he was actually terrified for the Field trip. He'd also told her about how much he wanted to just knock Steve out, and she admitted that she'd punched him several times when they were on the run. He trusted Wanda with everything in him. And now that he has her back, he doesn't know if he could deal with her leaving again. Everything was starting to get back to normal, really. Wanda started taking them out again for Ice-cream, her and Nat would make them breakfast sometimes or pick them up from school. 

With all jokes aside, Harley held Peter's cheeks, searching his eyes. "How are you feeling?" 

"Head still hurts a bit," He mumbled, pressing his lips lightly to Harley's. "Thank you, for earlier."

" _Always_." 

They cuddled for a bit after that, right up until FRIDAY announced that dinner was ready. Dinner was the worst part of his day, every day. He hated the fact that he had to sit down with Steve for an hour and pretend to be nice to his face. God, that was not happening that night. The only people Peter felt like being nice to be his parents, Harley, Wanda and Nat.

"How are you feeling, honey?" Pepper asked, sitting down opposite Peter. 

"I'm fine," He waved her off, taking a small sip of his glass of water. "How was your trip?"

She smiled at him, eyes glistening. "It was boring, really. Doesn't compare to being here with _you_." 

"Or me," Harley added, grinning from ear to ear. "Peter's _boring_ , I'm the entertaining one in this relationship, Pep." 

"Oh, yes," Tony drawled. "I forgot you were a comedian, Keener."

"You didn't know?" Harley replied. "Shame on you, mechanic. You know, I thought I brought you up better than this. After all these years since you broke into my fucking _garage_ —" 

"Yeah, yeah, half-pint, we get it." 

"I'm fucking _taller_ than you!"

"Just accept that you're small, dad." 

"You're smaller than me, Pete." 

" _You're smaller than me, Pete,_ " Peter mimicked, grinning as his dad's jaw dropped. "You're not the only fucking Stark that can mimic." 

"And you say I've got a fucking problem?" 

"More like several," Pepper mumbled. Although she tried to conceal it, Peter could see the hint of a smile on her lips. "Speaking of problems, tomorrow, Tony, you'll need to have FRIDAY keep an eye on Peter."

"What? why?" Peter spluttered, staring at her with wide eyes. "Come on... we've _talked_ about this—“

"No, Peter. You aren't well at the moment-" 

"I'm not fucking well? _God_ —“ He laughed harshly, pushing his chair back and standing up abruptly. "Just because I have some fucked up shit going on in my head doesn't mean I'm not well! _Jesus fucking Christ_ —“

There it was. _Boom_. He’d exploded. This was the storm. 

"Peter!" Steve stood up at the same time as his dad did. "Sit down! This is for your benefit—“ 

"No, _Steve_ , shut the fuck up, this doesn't concern you! I don't fucking care about a lot of things right now. I'm fucking _depressed_ , I'm anxious all the time, and I just want you and dad to be together, I want to feel normal again, not fucking anxiety-ridden and constantly worrying for your lives!"

" _Take it easy, kid_." That was Sam now. 

"This isn't come illness inside of me, I don't need a handler—“

" _It's the PTSD talking, Scott_."

( _Scott looked scared out of his mind. He'd never seen someone so... angry before_. Peter didn’t know who told him that, and he didn’t care.)

"Peter, come on, _buddy_ —“

"Cancel the Field trip." 

"What?" 

"Cancel the fucking Field trip." Harley stumbled backwards at the venom in Peter's words, falling into the chest of Sam, who just moved to stand in front of the kid. "The last time I went on a Field trip I almost fucking _died_ —“

" _It's just something that happens sometimes_."

"Wanda." Peter heard his dad mumble, but he didn't register it until he slumped to the floor, tears trickling down as cheeks as he begged and begged for the pain to go away. Wanda took away what she could, and he was left sobbing.

"I don't want it— I don't want it— dad—“

"Shh, buddy, you'll be _okay_." 

"Clear them out, Steve."

Everyone's voices mushed together as Peter stared forward, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. "I'm sorry— _I'm so sorry_ —“

”Listen to me, Peter,” His mom crouched in front of him, and his stomach twisted at the way that her eyes were rimmed red. “We love you so much, honey, Okay? We don’t want you to have an overload or an attack in front of your friends, buddy, we’re just protecting you.”

He nodded, finding himself completely breathless. He hated the way he felt after. He felt so angry with himself. “I didn’t mean to— I swear— I’m _sorry_ —“

”Stop apologising, squirt, you got overwhelmed quickly, it’s _okay_. I know this has been building up for a while, it’s so _good_ that you’ve let it out.”

“Just breathe now, baby, _we got you_.”

And they did have him. They stayed there for fifteen minutes, just holding Peter close in their arms as he calmed down.

The last time that Peter exploded like this was when Pepper left for Shanghai without telling them. That had sparked a series of arguments. He hated thinking about it, really. 

When his breathing eventually evened out and everyone trickled back in, looking cautious until they saw his sleeping form. 

Harley still looked so upset, and Tony could see that his eyes were red. “He— he was Okay—“

Tony realised with a jolt that this was the first time that Peter had snapped in front of them. Not even Harley had seen it before. He stood up and walked to Harley, wrapping the kid up in his arms. “It’s complicated, short-stack. He’ll tell you about it at some point.” 

There was a reason that Peter snapped like that. It rooted back to when he was seven, and he’d never learned to take control of it. Like Tony had thought, it had only been a matter of time before Peter snapped, and he did. He fell apart right in front of all of their eyes without so much as a second-thought. 

With one snap down, there would always be a few more to go, and Tony just hoped that it would be a while before another one came. They needed to keep the storm _away_. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s real clownery if you thought this would be. a happy chapter ! 
> 
> I'm not so sure about this, actually, but I wanted to have Peter completely blow up before the Field trip. In my persepctive of him, there's so much to overwhelm him. He can't quite grasp onto the fact that his dad has willingly let the people who almost killed him back into his house, and at this point, it really is taking it's toll on him. 
> 
> Also, there is something psychological going on with him which will be explained very soon.
> 
> Is this too whumpy though? Like, is it too much? uHhhHh i’m so unsure abt this


	8. Obadiah's wrath [part one]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Is anyone apart from Natasha on the Museum floor? We’re kinda spiralling—“ 
> 
> “On my way. Do we have protocols for this? Nat?”
> 
> ”No, he wouldn’t let Tony create them— fuck! He’s lucky that your teammates or whatever aren’t on this side of the floor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahaha jokes on you if you thought this would follow the stereotypical field trip fic, you're all clowns

When the morning came, he woke up to a hand running through his curls and a headache thumping against his head. He knew who was beside him instantly, and he let out a soft whine as the blankets on top of him were pulled off suddenly. "Up you get, sling-shot!" 

( _Harley wasn't asking him about the night before? Did he fucking know what was actually wrong with him? He’d fucking kill his dad or Nat if they let it slip.)_

"Piss off." 

"Still feisty?" 

"Fuck you, Keener." 

"Not right now, baby, we've got a field trip to go on." 

Peter pushed himself up and dug his hands into his eyes, groaning, and deciding to completely ignore Harley’s crude comment. "I'm so sorry, about last night— you shouldn't have had to see it." 

Harley turned around, eyes soft as he looked at his boyfriend. He looked so small... so _vulnerable_. "You haven't got anything to be sorry about. Come on, I think Ned will combust if we take any longer." 

( _That was true_.)

His life was actually such a shit show that he can't even tell when things are good or not, maybe that's a problem, but he couldn't actually care less. After the breakdown the day before, he felt so drained of energy that he couldn't bring himself to care about the trip, even if it was what caused the breakdown in the first place. He knew that there were plans in place between his parents and the Avengers to make sure that he stays in check. He could almost guarantee that Nat would be walking around with a bottle of Peter's tablets. 

( _He hated thinking about the stupid fucking things. The tablets, that is. He knew for a fact that they were crushed into his breakfast that morning, and he wasn't fucking stupid, his parents were giving them to him for a fucking reason_.)

Actually, do you know _what_ , Ned really is the bane in his and Harley's lives, no matter how much they love him ( _and that isn’t his brain shitting on his parade and making him into some bad person_ ). Peter had never heard someone ask so many _questions_ before in his entire life, and now that it was the day of the field trip, he really just wanted to end it all. His head was in pieces, he still felt very much on the edge of a fucking _cliff_ , and he really didn't want to snap in front of everyone again. 

( _Don't tell his dad though, he'd keep him locked up in his lab until the feeling passed_.)

" _Do you think I'll meet the Black Widow? What about the Falcon? Is he nice? How would I talk to the Hawkeye if I met him?_ "

"Ned."

" _Will Thor let me hold his hammer? What about Captain America's shield?_ "

"Ned!"

It shouldn't have been surprising when Ned rang him when Happy was driving him and Harley to school, he was so excited that Harley woke up to about seventeen messages from Ned. And in turn, Harley had shared them with Peter, knowing that it would make him feel better, somewhat. 

( _"Good morning, Harley. Mr Leeds has left seven voicemails and seventeen text messages for you and Peter."_ )

" _When will you guys get here? I need to see your passes again, they are so cool—“_  

"— Ned, we're hanging up now—“

"—  _does the Black Widow have a spider on her pass—“_

Harley ended the call with one hit and slumped back, lazily rolling his head to the side to look at Peter. He did actually look like _shit_ if Harley was being _honest_. Peter hadn't bothered to do anything with his hair, he was simply letting the curls drop to his forehead, and the bags under his eyes were _huge_. All he wanted to do was wrap his boyfriend up in a blanket and never let him leave his sight, but it was never that easy. 

As they actually arrived at the buses and gave their permission slips to Harrington ( _ignoring the sceptical looks sent their way at Pepper's signature_ ), Harley helped Peter onto the bus and into their seats, noticing the way his eyes kept dropping and his legs shaking. Peter carried on moving forward until he sunk into the seat next to Harley, yawning loudly as he looked down at the Stark watch that was wrapped around his wrist. Before he could even speak to Karen, Flash started shouting ( _shocker_ ). 

"Ready for your lies to be exposed, Penis?" 

 A chorus of snickers echoed through the bus from his teammates, each of them clearly following Flash in his disbelief. Peter blocked them out and let his fingers fiddle together in a familiar rhythm that kept a certain part of his brain occupied. 

He could vaguely hear Ned asking Harley questions, but he was too focused on listening to the sound of his heart beating through his ears. Actually, speaking of ears, he’d stuck an undercover comms in his ear that morning, but he hadn’t connected into the server yet. 

( _He knew damn well that they’d all be connected to it_.) 

It was a rebellion of some sorts. He owed them an explanation, and he didn’t want to do it face-to-face, so he figured that if he had a comms, he could do it via that. But, the focus of the comms that day was genuinely going to be ways to both embarrass Peter and to keep him safe. 

He found himself spacing out as the bus pulled up to the front of SI, and a familiar roll of dread settled its way in his stomach. He couldn’t even hold Harley’s hand for support because of his stupid fucking identity ( _again, that’s the anger speaking_ ), and he tried to swallow back the feeling of walking in there.

It made him scared— _terrified, even_ — that he could walk in there and see the same security guards from the day before. He was adamant that they’d talk him into another bunch of panic attacks and overloads. However, though, he really didn’t have time to sit and dwell on the anxiety, because as soon as they parked, Harrington was ushering everyone off of the bus. All he could hear was Flash taunting him and Ned rambling to MJ about how excited he was. 

After they had unloaded off of the bus, and by default entered the front entrance, Harley pulled Peter to the back of the group, handing his boyfriend his pass. “If you need to leave, Pete— _I’m being serious_ — tell me and we’ll get you away, okay?” 

Peter hazily looked at him, nodding slightly. “Y-yeah.”

"Hi, Midtown Tech! I'm Abby and I'll be your tour guide today. You will all shortly receive a visitors pass which you must wear clearly at all times, our head of security is very strict about that.”

The two of them looked at the girl, neither of them recognised her. The group followed Abby forward, and Peter clutched his pass tightly in his hand, being careful not to let anyone see it, Harley did the same. They’d never seen her before, so it would be one hell of a fucking ride once she sees their passes. 

As she handed out the passes and realised that Peter and Harley didn't get one, she frowned. Peter looked at her and lifted his own. "I've already got one."

His voice was so fucking blunt, he wasn’t even sorry about it. 

”So do I,” Harley did the same thing, almost smirking as her gaze lingered on them for a while. It was obvious that she recognised Harley, but she would definitely not recognise Peter. 

“All of your passes have a 'V' on them for Visitor. You each have a Level One clearance— which basically means you are restricted to certain floors and rooms you can access."

"How many different levels are there?" Someone asked. Peter didn't have the energy to look up and see who it was, he really couldn’t care less. 

"There are ten different clearance levels, each with different colours. Level one and two are grey, as they are for maintenance workers and visitors. Levels three, four and five are green and are for lower level interns. Levels six and seven are blue for R&D and high-level Interns, eight and nine are silver for government officials and S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Finally, level 10 is gold and is reserved for Mr Stark, Miss Potts and their family, that gives complete all access."

Peter's pass was gold, along with having a big red Avengers symbol on it. He'd hoped no one had noticed but Betty had, and she was already putting her arm in the air. "What about the Avengers? They live here right?"

Abby, having not seen Peter's pass, nodded. "The Avenger's have Level 10 gold clearance, but their passes have a red letter A on them."

Everyone moved forward slowly, and Peter and Harley tried to cover up their passes the best he could, but Abby caught sight of the 'A' and her eyes widened in shock at Peter’s pass. She really had no idea who he was, genuinely. She wondered briefly if he was the kid the other interns had been talking about (Stark’s kid), but surely Starks kid went to a private school and not some normal high school?

As they approached the Scanners to let them in properly, Abby showed them exactly what to do. She was somewhat looking forward to how FRIDAY would react to him and Stark’s protégée, Harley. 

She moved forward, scanning her pass on the scanner. She stood still as FRIDAY's voice boomed out. "Abby Richards. Clearance Level six. Blue. Intern."

She stepped through the other side and beckoned everyone forward. "Eugene Thompson. Clarence Level one. Visitor."

It was the same for everyone until it was Peter and Harley’s turn, and everyone was waiting on him. He scanned his badge, scrunching his nose in anticipation for FRIDAY. "Peter. Clearance classified. Gold and Red. Classified. Good morning, Peter, I have alerted boss of your arrival. How are you feeling now?” 

"That wasn't necessary, Fri," He mumbled, looking down at his shoes to avoid any awkward eye contact with Mr Harrington or Abby. “I’m feeling better.” 

Harley went through next, not taking any notice of the team staring at him. “Harley Keener. Clearance classified. Gold. Good morning, Harley, Boss has also been alerted of your arrival.”

He watched as Abby completely ignored Harley and continued to glance at Peter before tapping away at her Stark pad as she led them toward the elevators. 

"FRIDAY is Mr Starks AI, she is accessible to certain members of staff only," She shot a pointed look toward Peter, who hung toward the back of the group with Ned.

It made them uncomfortable, really. Peter more than Harley.

He had never wanted to disappear more in his life. As they stepped into the elevator, FRIDAY perked up again, monitoring that Peter was the last one to step in. "Miss Maximoff would like to let you know in advance that Mr Barton has gotten into the vents again, Peter. She wishes you to look out for him. Also, Harley, boss would like me to remind you that if you don’t pick up your shoes from the doorway he’ll ban you from your lab.”

Everyone plastered their eyes to the two of them, making them both let out simultaneous sighs as they looked to the ceiling in the elevator. “FRIDAY, tell Wanda to tell Barton that we’ll kill him later.” Peter stared at Harley, thanking him silently for replying to her for him.

“Apparently, Mr Barton says that he doesn’t care, Harley. Would you like me to tell boss of your plans?”

”No, Fri. Just tell Barton that Stark Jr and I will release rats into the vents.”

At the mention of ‘ _Stark Jr_ ’ the elevator broke out into excited whispers, Flashes being the loudest. “ _Will we meet Mr Stark’s son?_ ”

”Again, Harley, Mr Barton has made it clear that he doesn’t care. He also wishes for you and Peter to know that he is wearing hearing aids today, in case a situation arose. Stark Jr is not in the tower today, he left early this morning.”

( _Good save, FRIDAY_.)

Abby suddenly cleared her throat, looking annoyed by the boys’ exchange with FRIDAY. That was enough to put a small smile on Peter’s face. He really thinks that having high clearance is the best thing ever, he loves seeing other interns get jealous over it. “That will be enough, FRIDAY.”

In the distance somewhere, however, Peter’s ears picked up a screech and the clanking sound of a vent collapsing, which was definitely something he’d missed while Clint was galavanting with the Rogues. He smirked again, looking down at his converse. “Thanks, Fri,” He’d whispered so quietly, clearly thinking that no one would hear him, but as soon as FRIDAY replied, Abby scowled at him.

”No problem, Peter.”

As the doors to the museum opened, Abby blocked their way out, staring over all of them to make sure she got in her speech. 

( _Peter had never seen someone take their job so seriously, and his mom was Pepper fucking Potts_.)

"Welcome to the Avengers museum. After the Battle here in New York, Mr Stark dedicated this floor to the Avengers. You have forty minutes to explore and meet me back here." 

She smiled as the high schoolers took off, but quickly frowned as the kid ( _Peter?_ ) and Harley hung off to the side, fumbling around with their ears ( _what?_ ) as their teammates looked around the exhibit. 

In fact, now that they were in the actual building, Harley put in his own comms, waiting for Peter’s cue to connect to the server. 

“Morning, Karen. Who's online?" Peter asked, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. 

( _That was hot. Harley had to briefly remind himself that they were in public and technically not supposed to show affection_.)

"Good Morning, Peter, Harley. Currently, Mr Barton, Miss Romanoff, Miss Maximoff and Captain Rogers are online. Would you like me to add both of you into the connection?" 

"Yes, please."

"Done. They were not informed of your connection, you are completely undercover."

Out of the corner of his eye, Peter noticed Abby hastily making her way over to them, Starkpad in her arms as her heels clicked across the floor. "Not looking around the exhibit, Mr Parker? Mr Keener?”

Peter looked up at her, smile faltering. "Seen it before."

“Same,” Harley added, rocking on his heels slightly to ease the awkwardness. “What department are you from?”

She shot him a dirty look, eyebrows raised. “That’s not important, Mr Keener. What is important, _however_ , is the fact that you, Mr Parker, are not on the Stark Industries database. I do not know how you got a pass—“ 

There was this habit that Peter had, and it didn’t matter what mood he was in— whether he was calming down from panic attacks or in the happiest mood ever—, he would almost always begin to ignore people if something more important arose. And in this case, that important event was the comms buzzing to life in their ears. 

“Wanda, he trusts you, right? He wouldn’t guess that you’re on our side?” 

( _Obviously, Nat would be captain of the embarrass Harley and Peter ship_.) 

Peter folded his arms and licked his lips as Wanda's soft voice flowed through his ears. "He's wrapped around my finger."

"You sure about that, Maximoff?" Peter said, a silly smile playing on his lips (Harley’s insides just about melted). “You guys didn't think this out did you?"

”Maybe you should have connected to that secret spy server you guys have,” Harley suggested, letting his on grin make its way across his face. “In all seriousness though, it has been a draining morning for him, so take it easy.”

”You speak like I’m not stood next to you—“

“Someone’s feeling better then,” Nat drawled. Peter could practically hear the roll of her eyes. “Not like you _didn’t_ breakdown several hours ago.”

”Oh yeah? Fuck you.”

”Never mind.”

”I’m the only one being serious? That’s really nice to know, guys.”

( _Peter shot Harley a smile, silently thanking him. He was so cute, and even if he didn’t know what actually was going on in Peter’s head, he just wanted to help him, always_.) 

“Mr Parker!” 

Their necks snapped to the side, looking at Abby as she stared at them. Or, rather, she stared at Peter. 

Harley shoved his hands into his pocket, whistling quietly as he waited for Peter to say something. “Sorry, Miss Abby.” They both turned their heads to the side, fingers reaching up to point at the comms. “Connected to a server. Surely, if you’re an intern, you must know about the Comms? I heard that that’s how you communicate?” 

Despite Peter’s efforts, Abby’s face still burned with anger and annoyance. “What I was trying to say, Mr Parker, is that there is no record of you under that name on my database of interns. I do not understand how you have such a high-level clearance, but I will find—“

”— you, Abby, are looking at the _wrong_ database.” 

Peter and Harley looked over Abby's shoulder, Peter cursing under his breath as his mother stood there, her own Starkpad in her hands. Peter honestly felt lucky that everyone was too busy in the museum to even notice them. Before he could even speak to Pepper, he spotted Nat in the corner, trying to blend in. He raised an eyebrow. "I can see you, Nat. You know, for a spy, you can't conceal yourself from me very well."

”I’m not even trained in anything and I can still see you,” Harley added, tilting his head to the side slightly. 

Pepper stared at her son, eyebrows raised and a small smile curving her lips as he leant against the wall, staring at Natasha. "Peter, Harley, dears, you know they won't leave you alone. Anyway, Abby—" She lowered her voice, "— he's under our personal database."

Abby looked down, watching as his mom entered the database and scrolled down until she saw his name. _Peter A. Stark_. Her mouth went slack as she rushed out apologies. But, after Pepper mentioned something about an NDA and that some students were getting a bit too close to Clint's old arrows, she rushed off, leaving the three alone.

Pepper ruffled Peter's hair. "How are you feeling, honey?” 

“Shit,” Peter deadpanned, leaning into her touch. After a sharp look sent his way, that clearly showed that his mom wanted more information, he sighed. “Like I’m still teetering on the top of a mountain.”

”You want to speak to dad?”

” _God_ , no!”

”Alright,” She stepped back, holding her hands up in surrender. “Don’t say I didn’t give you the chance—“

All of a sudden, a loud screech came through the comms, and right in front of them, the vent over their heads collapsed and Clint landed on the floor. Peter let out a laugh, leaning against Harley for support as Clint shot them both dirty looks. “We’re watching both of you! Always watching!”

As Clint scrambled off of the floor and ran away, with Peter hot on his heels, Harley turned to Pepper, the smile fading off of his face. “He’s— _uh_ — Pepper— what’s wrong with him?” 

“It’s not my place to tell,” She smiled sadly, pressing a hand to his cheek. “He’ll tell you when he’s ready, whether that’s today or some other time. Just— just be prepared for some ups and downs today.” 

Peter came running back quickly enough, turning to his mom, completely oblivious that she and Harley had been talking about him. “Thanks for sorting that out, by the way. If you see anyone running around trying to sabotage us, kill them? Especially if it's Clint or Sam! _Love you_!"

Pepper could only shake her head as Peter grabbed a hold on Harley and they ran off toward Ned, who was gushing over Iron Mans first ever gauntlet. Peter, however, quickly felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise, and he could only assume that Nat was getting closer to the two of them. 

( _Peter knew she was just looking out for him, as one of only three people who knew exactly what was wrong with him, she didn’t want to watch him crumble again_.)

( _And, as soon as Peter left, Pepper had, in fact, told both Nat and Tony that he was ‘teetering on a mountain’ again_.)

Harley looked behind him, nodding at Natasha as she began speaking. “You know, we’re doing this for your benefit, it isn’t just Tony’s orders.”

”I don’t _need_ looking after.”

”You don’t, Peter, but you need us around to help you if things go south.”

As Peter opened his mouth to reply, Harley beat him to it. “If you really think about it, it’s not all that bad. Baby, I don’t fucking know what’s going on, but I never want you to go through what happened last night with people from school around—“ 

Ned looked over to the two boys, mouth agape as he followed Peter’s line of vision to a woman wearing a baseball cap. When Peter finally spoke, it was in a rushed tone. “Karen, connect me to dad.”

” _Connecting_.”

Ned looked and felt like he was going to burst from excitement, he knew that Peter was communicating with the Avengers secretly, but he couldn't help but let out a squeal as Peter began talking. Harley looked kind of terrified about something though, he just couldn’t figure out what. 

"You know, It's not right to have them spy on me. Also, what can’t you fucking _understand_ about the fact that _I’m fine_?”

"Peter, you’re not fine, you know you aren’t, stop trying to argue, buddy. Just— just let us look out for you. Also, who let it out? I'll kick them off the team. Was it Rogers? I knew he couldn't keep a secret—"

"— It was Nat. It’s not hard to fucking understand because you did fucking _trigger_ me with it yesterday. Seriously, dad, I’m fucking _fine_ —“ 

"She's supposed to be a spy! FRIDAY connect me to Natasha. See you, squirt.”

As he disconnected, Peter frowned, looking at Harley. “This is fucking ridiculous—“ He could feel _it_ inching through his brain. _I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m fucking sorry. I’m—_

"Dude!" Ned gushed, looking about ready to burst from excitement. "Your life is so cool! Is that the Black Widow?”

”Hang on, Ned—“ Harley waved Natasha over before speaking into the comms ( _he was still apart of the server_ ). “Is anyone apart from Natasha on the Museum floor? We’re kinda spiralling—“ 

“On my way,” Wanda muttered. “Do we have protocols for this? _Nat_?”

”No,” She replied, standing in front Peter, fumbling around her pockets for something. “He wouldn’t let Tony create them— _fuck_! He’s lucky that your teammates or whatever aren’t on this side of the floor."

Peter thrashed out of Harley’s grip, eyes staring but not seeing. He could hear what was going on around him, but the blood rushing through his ears was prominent, _and he could feel Harley’s grip, he could hear Nat, he could hear someone’s breathing, he could hear—_

_“Peter?”_

_”Peter—“_

_“Someone call Pepper—“_

_”Tony!”_

_“Pete— buddy—“_

“Don’t,” He pulled someone’s arm away from him, “fucking,” he slapped a hand away, “touch me.”

_”Abby! Clear it out!”_

_“The floor is clear, boss— contacting Dr. Cho—“_

_”Harley, stand back, honey.”_

_“It’s worse!”_

_“This hasn’t happened in years—“_

_”What the fuck is wrong with him?”_

_“Ned— you have to leave!”_

And then he wasn’t listening. And he couldn’t feel. 

 

* * *

 

“It’s brain damage.”

There was a silence, the only sound was Peter’s heavy breathing as he slumped against Pepper. “Tony, maybe you shouldn’t talk—“ Natasha warned, knowing that Peter would get upset if he knew that his dad had told everyone his deepest secret. 

“They should know, Nat.” There was a silence again. “He was seven. Obadiah— he— he kicked Peter's head a lot of times when he tried to kill me in my own home. His brain— something happened, they don’t know what.” 

“Brain damage,” Steve repeated, glancing at Peter. “Did the bite—“

”Heal it? Obviously not. It helped him with the stutter he had, but it made the damage— the anger— worse.”

”And Nat?” Steve asked, looking at her. “How did you know?”

”I was assigned to look after Tony six months after Obadiah was killed— when Tony was dying from the Palladium— and Peter was still recovering then.”

”You saw—“

”The breakdowns? Several.”

"Jesus," Sam mumbled, burying his face in his hands. "You said this has only happened, what? Once or twice before?" 

Tony nodded, sighing. "It's not like what happened last night. That— that was the PTSD and anger talking, but this— this is something entirely _different_."

Harley hadn't spoken much, he had curled himself under Wanda's arm, trying to keep some sort of panic attack at bay. _Brain damage. Brain damage. Brain damage—_

"What was today, then?" 

"He was overwhelmed," Dr Cho replied, stating it so simply as if it was obvious. "It was a sensory overload mixed with various other things. This environment was stressing him out. I would recommend for him to rest for the rest of the day."

"Wanda, stay with Harley during the field trip," Tony told her, just after Dr Cho had left. "I'll take Peter to his room." 

"What? Are you being fucking _serious_? I've just been fucking told that my boyfriend has _brain damage_ and you want me to go back on my field trip?"

"Your teacher will get suspicious, honey. I'll speak to him about letting Wanda stay with you. If something happens, we'll let you know, I _promise_." 

"Pepper is right, Harls, It'll be okay," Wanda rubbed her hand on his arm, looking down at him with a smile. "I promise." 

Turns out, it was okay. Or, as okay as it can be. Pepper guided them to the cafeteria and pulled Harrington aside, keeping a polite smile on her face, despite the obvious stress on her features. "We're so sorry about having to rush you out of the Museum floor, Mr Harrington, there was a medical problem that needed to be dealt with—“

"— with Peter Parker?" 

"Yes and no. Peter suffered a panic attack, and as his mentors and managers, we knew how to deal with the situation. Unfortunately, he _won't_ be returning to the field trip." 

"That's quite alright, Miss Potts." 

( _Harley thinks that Harrington is only accepting what Pep is saying because she's Pepper fucking Potts_.) 

"Miss Maximoff here will be accompanying Harley for the rest of the field trip, the reason is in fact classified, and we would appreciate if no questions were asked." 

In his head, Harley created a whole monologue that Pepper would have said if everyone knew the fucking truth. It would be something along the lines of, _'Wanda is Harley's emotional support buddy because his boyfriend literally has brain damage and would kill anyone in his path without a second thought, have a great trip!'_. 

Maybe a little less dramatic than that. Actually, it would probably be a lot less dramatic than _that_. 

"Come on, Harley." 

Wanda tugs him forward and they sit on the same table as Ned and MJ, both of them staring at Wanda. "Whoah! You're the Scarlett Witch! You're _awesome_ , how do you do all the red swirly stuff? Do you say spells?" 

"He always like this?" Wanda muttered, leaning into Harley.

"Always." 

"I can see why Peter flipped out." 

"Mhm." 

"He'll be okay."

"I know. I'm just... shocked." 

"Me too, buddy. Just, think positive thoughts."

"Kinda hard when I'm _pretty sure_ that Pepper has granted Abby access for the tour to tour the penthouse." 

"Shit." 

"Yeah. _Shit_." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this was really hard to write and to connect up all the events (and make sure that everything linking to the brain damage was clear), so I hope I made it clear enough. If I didn't, then basically, Obadiah attacked Peter after he'd stolen Tony's Arc Reactor in IM1, and because he was so small and young, the force of the kicks caused permanent brain damage. It also explains (along with the obvious heightened senses) how Peter gets headaches etc so easily. 
> 
> Feedback on this chapter would be really nice, I'm so nervous about how this will be received


	9. Obadiah's wrath [part two]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "New Protocol alert: Baby digs a grave."
> 
> "What the— seriously— what the fuck, Peter? 'Baby digs a grave'? What possessed you to, one, even climb in the first place, and two, create a protocol for it?"
> 
> "Hey! You always want me safe so I took your wishes into consideration... for once."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's a field trip,,,,, yeah,,,, that went to absolute s h i t  
> also, everyone say i for peter finally squaring up to steve lets fucking go
> 
> also i almost failed gcse biology and i am no way a doctor so my medicine/biology knowledge is that of a five year old
> 
> ok and this is the last of the field trip, and i feel like it’s a satisfying ending to the two day drama episode in stark tower

_Hit. Hit. Block._

“Harder, Stark!”

_Hit._

_Hit._

_Block._

“Keep going!”

_Hit. Block._

_Hit._

_Hit._

_Block. Hit. Block._

“Get it out your system!”

_Block. Block. Hit. Hit._

“Stop!”

Peter panted and dropped his arms, resting his hands across his stomach as he tried to catch his breath. “I don’t think this is a good method at getting out the anger.”

“You need to get used to it,” Dr Cho told him, throwing him a water bottle. “It will certainly help you direct your brain to an outlet point for the anger.”

“I guess,” Peter shrugged, gulping down the entire bottle before chucking it to the floor. “I feel relatively stable now. I wouldn’t expect another episode for months.”

“He’s right,” Nat stood up, walking over to them. “He’s had two within a span of twenty-four hours, there won’t be another one for a while.”

“You’re right, but then it is likely that it could hit you, Peter, out of nowhere. I want you to set up a sparring and training scheme, where you can train with the team to let off steam.”

“I do that anyway.”

“I’m aware.”

“You want me to do it more?”

“Yes, and I believe it would be beneficial if you incorporated Mr Keener into the scheme too. Perhaps he can be taught basic self-defence.”

“He has absolutely _no_ coordination, there’s a fat chance he’d do one minute and then sleep somewhere.”

“That may be the case, but it would still help you if he were here.”

"Okay," He nodded again, catching another water bottle thrown his way by Nat. "Thanks." 

"You seem to recover from these episodes quicker than the shouting ones, why?" 

"I think, when I shout, it takes more out of me. But, that one, I just have no control over anything. I don't remember it, so I don't particularly feel the after-effects as much." Nat rolled her eyes, remembering clearly the first time an episode like that happened. "Ok, maybe I am absolutely ready to _conk_ out, but the nightmares always come after that one."

“What nightmares?” Cho pressed, looking down at her clipboard briefly. 

Peter swallowed, darting his eyes around the room as a hand subconsciously reached up to rub his head. “They’re of A-afghanistan, or Obadiah, sometimes.”

“Okay, do you want to speak to Sam about them?”

“N-no. I’ve been having them for years, It’s Okay, really.”

”That’s fine, Peter. I’ll see you tomorrow for your checkup.”

”Bye, Dr Cho.”

”Bye, Peter.”

Once she’d left, Nat turned to him. “Come on, short-stack, your classmates are supposed to stop by here soon.” 

He breathed, staring at her with his mouth agape. “My decathlon team? They’re still here? What time is it?” 

“It has only been two hours since your episode, Peter. The tour group will remain here until four.”

”Where are they now?”

”The penthouse communal room. It seems that they are just about to pass through the bedroom hall. Would you like me to activate the _baby keeps secrets_ protocol?” FRIDAY said. 

“Obviously,” Natasha growled, taking a sip of her water. “Make sure that not a single person can see in our rooms.” 

“ _Baby keeps secrets_ protocol engaged.”

Peter raised his eyebrows, letting a small laugh bubble from his lips. He felt so much better, he really did. He fell asleep for an hour or so after the freak out thing, and when he woke up, Dr Cho and Nat took him to the Frame room to let off steam. “You do realise that our doors are personalised from the outside too, right?” 

( _Each of their bedroom doors had their initials on them, with various posters, etc. Peter had an iron man poster under the P.A.S on his door, he loved it_.) 

“Maybe if they see that then they’ll realise that you’re not as heartless as you seem, Romanoff.”

Peter spun around and stared at Steve, lips parted slightly as Barnes strolled in after him. “It’s _occupied_.”

Steve raised his eyes brows, frowning slightly. “We’re just here to spar, Peter. I heard you were letting off steam.” 

“I was just about to work with Nat, _Rogers.”_

Steve raised his arms in surrender. “I’ll just be using the punching bag then.”

”You go do that, _dick_ ,” Peter mumbled under his breath, knowing damn well that’s Steve and Barnes both had as good of an enhanced hearing as he did. " _I'll use you as my fucking punching bag_."

That was the thing about being as strong as Steve, they could spar for ages without seriously hurting each other, but if Peter or Steve did really want to, they could hurt each other. _Exhibit A_ was Germany when Steve slammed his shield into Peter's fucking face, _exhibit B_ was when Peter broke Steve's nose one time when they were sparring and—

"Are we going to do this or not?" 

Peter blinked, breaking away from his thoughts as Nat stared at him, arms in front of her chest in a defensive stance. "Let's fucking do this." 

They did. Nat would hold her hands up and allow Peter to punch them ( _it helped control his strength_ ), but they'd quickly just do some normal sparring. By the end of it, they'd usually end up with several bruises or a split lip, or sometimes a black eye, but, like today, they weren't going to finish this session without a fucking fight. He kept punching and kicking and then repeating. 

_Hit. Hit. Hit._

_Punch. Block._

_Hit._

_Block._

_Punch. Kick. Hit._

_Kick. Punch. Block._

"Is that all you've got, Stark?" 

_"Is that all you've got, Romanoff?"_

He pulled back and started circling her, fists clenched in front of his face. It happened quickly after that. One minute his feet were on the floor and the next, all he could feel was Natasha's legs around his neck before slamming him to the floor. _Fuck_. 

_"Holy shit!"_

Peter groaned and rolled onto his stomach, coughing in an attempt to get air through his lungs. He could see several pairs of feet by the room entrance, but the hacking of his lungs was relatively distracting in those moments. "You good, Parker?" Natasha crouched by his head, smirking slightly as she switched so easily from Stark to Parker. "Take a break before you start with Steve."

"Who said anything about sparring with _Spangles_?" 

She let a grin slide onto her lips, to replace the smirk, as she held out her hand, craning her neck to look at the Decathlon team. "Children." 

Peter stood next to her, hands holding his hips as he breathed heavily, head spinning only slightly ( _an obvious sign that he was in fact, wiped out, and did, in fact, need a nap_ ). It was the first time he'd seen Wanda and Harley since before he blanked out, so to see both of them now, looking at him like he had grown two heads, he instantly knew that they _knew_. Some part of him was mad at his dad for telling everyone, but the other part of him was relieved. If they all knew then there didn't need to be questions anymore, they'd know why he had a headache or why he kept having sensory overloads, and maybe some part of his brain would be at peace with the other. 

It was a stupid theory, but there was a part of him that wanted to beg for it to be true, that his brain would be at peace, that is. 

"What are _you_ doing here, Parker?" Flash curled his top lip in a sneer, briefly casting his eyes up and down Peter's attire. It was different from his clothes that morning, obviously. Instead of a sweater and jeans, he was wearing a t-shirt and gym shorts, perfect for sparring. "Mr Harrington said that you got ill."

"Peter lets off steam with us," Steve cut in, moving to stand next to Nat. Peter had to swallow back the growl from the back of his throat. "He's Tony's intern and so, _naturally_ , he's close to us, too."

With a roll of his eyes, Peter turned around and faced away from the group, fingers running through his hair. He would have accepted Steve's words about being close to them several months ago, but not now. Not after he drove his shield through his dad's chest and left him to die in the Siberian snow. "Before you almost _killed_ my dad." 

His voice was quiet enough, again, for Steve to hear it, and when he did, he spun around on the spot, giving Peter the perfect chance to swing his arm and slam his fist straight into his jaw. "That's called fucking karma, _asshole_. Don't know if you had that in the old days, but what fucking goes around comes around.” 

Harley whistled, his lip pulled between his teeth. His head was screaming, ' _that's my fucking baby_ ', but the rational part of his brain made him settle with, "FRIDAY, send that footage to the mechanic, tell him it's important."

"Baby digs a grave protocol level important?" 

" _Baby digs a grave protocol level important_." 

"When the fuck was that protocol created?" Nat and Wanda rounded on him, eyes narrowed. _Ok_ , _so_ , it was _Peter's_ protocol yet they were rounding on him? Cool, cool, cool, _makes sense, makes sense_. 

( _It doesn't make sense. Also, are they just going to ignore the fact that Peter broke Steve’s jaw?”_

"Stark Jr likes to not wear a harness when he comes in here and uses Spider-man's frames— _shit, I wasn't supposed to say that—_ anyway, he created a protocol so FRIDAY could initiate it if anything went wrong."

"Did you know about this? Peter?" 

He grinned, finding it so amusing to talk about himself without anyone knowing. "The protocol? _Yeah_. Stark Jr asked _me_ to come up with the name, said he wanted to give Tony a heart attack or something." 

That _was_ the plan, actually. When FRIDAY had announced to his dad that he and Harley had created the protocol, the man's reaction was something that he'd never forget for as long as he lived. 

( _"New Protocol alert: Baby digs a grave."_ )

 _("What the— seriously— what the fuck, Peter? 'Baby digs a grave'? What possessed you to, one, even climb in the first place, and two, create a protocol for it?"_ )

( _"Hey! You always want me safe so I took your wishes into consideration... for once."_ )

"I can still remember his reaction," Harley laughed, and Peter's stomach turned to mush at the way his eyes crinkled in the corners. "It was fucking hilarious."

"Are we going to ignore the fact that Peter just broke Captain America's jaw?" Ned's mouth hung open, his eyes flashing between everyone in the room. Obviously, he knew who Peter was and what he was capable of, so Peter was relieved that Ned wasn't making it particularly obvious. "This is _insane_."

"FRIDAY, get Cho down here. Tell her that spangles broke his jaw."

"She is on her way, Miss Romanoff." 

"Great." The teens flinched backwards as Nat clapped her hands, turning to Peter. "You, _Parker_ , it's time for medicine and sleep." 

"What medicine?" Harley stepped forward looking between the two. "Peter?"

"Uh, my medicine for my head. You know... it— um— it hurts?" 

"His medicine for headaches, Keener. Are you coming upstairs or are you staying on the tour?" 

( _Something in Harley’s brain clicked and his eyes widened in realisation. Right. Medicine for the brain_.)

" _Well_ , what are you doing upstairs?" 

"Sleeping." 

"I'll stay." 

"Thought you might," She flicked her eyes one last time over the kids before reaching out and grabbing Peter's arm, pulling him along with her. Deciding last minute to completely fuck the kids up, she licked her lips. "If you see Stark Jr, tell him I said hi." 

( _She was such a shit_.)

 

* * *

 

And, rightfully, like any Field trip that Peter had ever been on, it had to go to _shit_ more than once.

( _Could he even say that? He’s technically not on the trip anymore. But he was when it first went to shit, that surely counted, right?_ )

Pepper and Tony were arguing. 

Of course, they were. It was stupid of him, actually, to believe that things were going _Okay_. He genuinely thought that when he first came around, led in his bed, with his parents either side of him, that they would be back together.

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

His legs moved him forward like they were on auto-pilot. He sunk down next to Sam and stared forward, a vacant look in his eyes. That was something that had been there more recently. "They're arguing."

Sam looked at him. He saw how distraught this kid was when Potts had gotten so angry that she had left for five days, he saw how Tony wouldn’t let his own son see him upset most of the time. But now, this was Peter, this was a kid with fucking brain damage, a kid who was genuinely a _ticking time-bomb_ against his own will, because of the actions of an asshole, and this kid had to listen to his parents argue. He had to see the side-glances at each other when Pepper was in the tower. 

His job was to talk to people, and to listen to people talk to him, and _god_ , this kid was in so much pain, mentally and physically, he didn’t know if he could listen to him sob his heart out. 

The door suddenly slammed open from Tony’s lab and Pepper walked through, face burning with anger. She stopped short when she saw Peter upset, her heart instantly plummeted. She moved forward quickly and knelt in front of her son, smiling tightly at Sam as he left the room to give them space and privacy. 

"Honey? What happened—“

Peter rested his face in his hands, drawing in a deep breath. “I’m so fucking tired. I’m so tired of hearing the _arguing_ , I’m so tired of the mood swings— I was so fucking happy like, an hour ago— and most of all, mom, I’m really fucking _tired_ of waking up to you being _gone_ again.”

Pepper opened her mouth, but nothing came out. 

“Don't think you can hide this from me, I'm not _stupid_. I hear the two of you every single night that you’re home, just _screaming_ at each other.”

”Peter,” She whispered, hands cradling his cheeks, the pad of her thumb rubbing against his cheekbone. “It’s just rough right now, okay? As for you, baby, we’re working on some medicine to help you, ok? _I promise_.”

His lips trembled between her grip, eyes beginning to rapidly blink. “I just don’t want you two to get angry at each other over and over again.”

He felt selfish telling his mom that, because their happiness is so much more important than his own, but he _needed_ his parents. He needed his mom's hugs, he needed his dad’s jokes, he just needed _them,_ because his illness ( _as the doctors put it_ ) is attacking him with full force all of a sudden and he doesn't know how to cope with it alone. 

When Sokovia happened, and his dad almost died again, he came home different. He was more reserved, guilty too. That was when his parents started arguing, and inevitably when his brain decided to fall apart on him. He'd fainted, maybe, four times? It was a side-effect apparently, of the anger, that is. They thought it was due to the brain damage, which it technically was, but he'd gotten so stressed and angry that his blood-pressure kind of just dropped? He'd faint, and then it would go shooting up again. 

When he was seven and had a nightmare about Obadiah for the first time, his parents had spent the entire night led with him, just whispering how much they loved him in his ear until he fell asleep again. It was similar to how he’d woken up only hours before, his parents either side of him. 

It wasn't like that when he woke up. 

 _Sure_ , his mom and dad were crouched in front of him, both of them holding his shoulders to stop the shaking, but there was obvious tension, and it made him feel sick to think about it. He felt like he was falling. Not in the way he did before an episode, but just like he was falling and no one could stop him, or save him. 

Pepper had her hand in his hair, smoothing it down slightly to calm him, and Tony was just looking between him and Pepper. "Buddy? You with us?"

He nodded, blinking slowly. "Am I dreaming or are you two next to each other?" 

"Not a dream, bud."

"Good." Peter let a comfortable silence fall over them as he woke up properly ( _he couldn't even remember falling asleep. One minute he was thinking about Sokovia and the next he was being woken up, what the fuck?_ ). "Nat and Wanda found out about t-the _Baby Digs a Grave_ protocol."

"The what?!"

" _God_ , Pete."

Sure, he was _fucked_ in the head, and sure he was just about ready to _cry_ and take a five hour nap, and _sure_ , his parents were hardly on speaking terms, and _sure_ he was definitely still angry, but his mom finding out about the Baby Digs a Grave protocol might be one of his favourite things. Ever. 

It tops breaking Steve’s jaw. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the baby digs a grave protocol is one of my favourite things, and i promise in the coming chapters we’ll get more spider-man, happy peter, and more peter / harley moments cus i miss writing my babies 
> 
> let me know how this chapter is!!


	10. Internships with Oscorp?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I might run away.”
> 
> ”Okay, buddy.”
> 
> ”I’m officially quitting Stark Industries, do you think you can put in a good word with Oscorp? Or Hammer tech?”
> 
> ”Over my dead body.”
> 
> ”Well, Harley, it looks like we’ve got an elderly man to kill.”
> 
> ”Finally. I’ve been waiting for this for years.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is part serious and part crack and honestly, i don’t have any regrets
> 
> im seeing spider-man: far from home tonight and i’m so scared n excited uhH so i wanted to get this chapter out first

* * *

The most irritating thing about having brain damage was the fact that sometimes, just sometimes, he actually had to leave the tower and go to an actual _hospital_. With someone of his metabolism and enhanced state, normal hospitals just weren't on the fucking radar, but as someone with incurable brain damage, he was fine. He just needed scans. In all fairness, Cho really could be doing this shit herself, but Peter was registered to a local hospital as someone who genuinely was normal and needed brain scans, so he had to put up with it. Even if he wasn’t _normal_. 

He remembers the first time he had an MRI scan. He'd sobbed for a full hour after it. He'd gotten used to it now. They'd put him in a gown, make sure that he had no metal on him, lay him down, play some sort of shitty music, and make him stay still for like a whole hour. It was a shitty experience, and they all knew damn well that it wasn't going to bring him any closure to a cure ( _because he's sure that there wouldn't be a cure for his level of fucked up brain activity and anger_ ), so he didn't understand the need for it, but the last time he'd gone ( _a good six months prior_ ), they'd found signs of healing, but it was nothing to be excited about. 

Cho had found the same thing. And that was before the Spider-bite. 

Anyway, that is exactly how he found himself wrapped up in his dads MIT hoodie, in the back of Happy's car, at eight in the morning as they headed for the hospital. He was missing school for this, not that he's complaining, but he'd really just rather be curled up in bed and pretending that the world didn't exist. 

"Take a nap during the scan, buddy."

Peter shifted in his seat, pulling out one of his earphones to look at his dad. "What?"

"Take a nap during the scan, I think it'll be longer than usual." He looked mildly upset by the fact that it would take longer than usual, but it was down to the fact that the doctors would want to know about the episodes. There had been five of them since the last appointment. "I love you, buddy."

He snuggled further into his hoodie and by default, further into his dad. Nodding slightly, he sighed. "Will you stay?" 

"Who do you take me for?" 

"Iron man?"

His dad smiled, hand cupping Peter's head. "Of course I'll stay. Pepper might pop in too." 

She wouldn't. He knew she wouldn't. It was bad enough that Tony Stark and Happy Hogan were going to be seen going into a children's hospital, and she'd have to deal with the PR aspects of it. It was actually a good thing that she wasn't going, nor was Harley because that would attract too much attention, and in his current state, that was something that they didn't want to happen. "No, she _won't_. You know it, dad." 

“You lack faith in her, Pete.”

”I don’t, I just know her—“

” _Fuck, shit_ —“

”What?” Peter looked out the window as they pulled up to the hospital, swallowing harshly at the sight of at least fifteen men with huge cameras waiting around. “Holy shit.”

Wasn’t he just thinking about Pepper attracting too much attention? _Fucking hell_ , he forgot how much his dad had been in the news outlets lately. “Uh— say, Pete, does that sweater have a hood?”

Peter shot him a look, hand reaching up to curl around the soft black material. “Clearly.” He pulled it over his hair, letting it hang just into his forehead slightly as he unbuckled his seatbelt, shifting around. “What do we do?” 

“You, my little baby, are getting swaddled in my jacket.”

”I can’t tell if you're being serious or not, but I’m too fucked up to care. _Swaddle me_.”

Happy swung open his dad’s door and, when his dad stepped out and opened his jacket, Peter kept his sweater covered hands in front of his face until the smooth material of the blazer closed around his head. 

They moved forward slowly, his dad’s hand pressing to his head to let him know that he’s there. Once inside of the hospital and in a secure room, Peter unwrapped himself and reached up to ruffle his curls. The receptionist didn’t even look up at them, she was too busy staring at her phone. 

Once checked in and moved into a waiting room, Happy stood by the door, arms crossed over his chest. Peter snorted and rested his head on his dad’s legs, closing his eyes. “Dad?”

Tony looked down at Peter, moving his hand to brush curls out of his face. “Yeah?”

”Did you know that Midtown wants Harley to graduate this year?”

”They want Harley to graduate but not you?”

”Well, to be fair, It’s not like I actually turn up half the time.”

“That’s true,” Tony hummed, looking down at him once again. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

”I don’t know.” He huffed, looking at his watch as he raised it to eye level. Peter continued, “I think he was gonna decide before telling you.”

“Makes sense.”

There was a beat of silence for a moment, the only sound was the clock ticking away in the room. “Can we get a dog?”

”And replace Rhodey like that? No.”

”I’m going to tell him you said that.”

”Ok. You do that, bud.”

”I will.” Another beat of silence. “What— what do I tell them about the triggers?”

Tony felt his insides melt, and his heart jumped around in his chest. “Tell them the truth.”

The door clicked open and a nurse looked in, a small smile on her face. “Peter?” He nodded. “Come this way.”

He couldn’t feel himself walking, not really. He shut down as he got changed, as he took off his watch and gave it to his dad. He hated this, and no matter how much he was used to it, the prospect always made him want to just run away. 

As he sat down on the plush bed, he looked at his dad, fiddling his fingers together in an act of anxiety. 

“Are you still taking your medication, Peter?” 

The nurse was small, maybe five foot two, and she always wore the same smile. There were some wrinkles behind it, and she always looked tired. Peter wondered if that’s how Aunt May looked now. He missed her. Maybe he should ask his dad if he could go and see her, they haven't seen each other since the whole Mandarin thing happened.

“He only takes the calming shit made by our team after an overload or an episode,” Tony answered, not moving his eyes off of Peter. “As for the Anxiety and PTSD, he doesn’t like the medication because it makes him feel... _funny_.”

The nurse looked at him more intensely, squinting her eyes. “When was your last _anger and PTSD_ episode?”

Thats what she called the shouting one. The anger and PTSD episode. It sounded... not very nice. And it wasn’t. “Two days ago.” 

She looked at his dad then. “What triggered it?” 

Tony sighed, glancing between the two of them. Peter wondered whether he was a burden to his dad, having to traipse him to the hospital every now and again. “His class had a Field Trip to Stark Industries, and when we mentioned that we’d be keeping an eye on him because he wasn’t well, he blew up.”

By the look on Peter’s face, it was painfully obvious that he was ashamed of himself. “That’s Okay, Peter. What was going on around that time?”

”Overloads,” He whispered, not even looking from his hands. “It h-hurt and it kept happening, I didn’t w-want to s-snap but I d-did.”

There was the stutter. 

”What about the other episode? The rare one. We should think of a name, huh? Have you had one?”

”Yesterday,” His voice got even quieter then, if that was possible, and he wanted to curl in on himself. “I shut down. I could hear and I could feel but I couldn’t see anything and I couldn’t respond— I was out of control.”

”Okay. That’s completely normal, Peter, no one is mad at you,” She stood up and smiled at him, moving backwards toward the door where his dad was stood. “I’ll be back in a minute, just stay there.”

When she left, Peter let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and his lip trembled unwillingly. “I want to go h-home. Dad— please—“

He really thought he’d be Okay. He felt so sure of himself in the car, but then she started asking those questions and the panic seeped in and—

“If you lie down, Peter, I can get the boxes sorted to keep everything in the correct place.”

Getting sorted for the scan was worse than Peter remembered. His legs were elevated on a blush box and, as he lay flat on his back, the nurse fixed the equipment around his head, making him flinch every time it clicked into place. 

“I’ll put on some music for you, but feel free to fall asleep, Peter, this may take longer than before.” Peter gave the nurse a shaky thumbs up, not wanting to move his head. “If you could follow me, Mr Stark.”

When they left the room and he was left in silence, his lip trembled again and several tears trailed down the sides of his face. He didn’t want to appear weak, he really didn’t, but this was hell. He was kidding himself when he said that he was used to this. He wasn’t. As soon as the shitty music picked up ( _they were playing some crap British music from the eighties_ ) and the bed moved into the MRI scanner, he allowed his eyes to slip shut as he pretended that everything was okay. 

_Just think about Harley._

In the watching room, Tony bit his fingernails, letting his knee bounce up and down as he watched Peter’s body move deeper into the scanner. “What are you looking for?” He asked, staring at the doctors. “Nothing is going to have changed.”

”We’re just doing a far more in-depth scan today, Mr Stark. We aren’t looking for anything in particular,” The doctor muttered, pressing several buttons on his computer. “Have you tried any new coping techniques?” 

“He’s been doing self-defence sparring with us for years, just yesterday we worked with our own Doctor to set out a training scheme for him.”

”By ‘us’, do you mean the Avengers?” 

“Classified,” Happy grunted out, shifting around in his position by the door. 

Tony shot Happy a look as the Doctor spun around in his chair, clearly satisfied now that the scanner was running. The man was a different Doctor to normal, Tony wasn't sure where their nurse went, but it was just them and around three other doctors now, each of them looking at specifics on the computer screens. "He's asleep," One of them announced, glancing between his screen and the scanning room. "What hemisphere am I looking at?" 

"Both," Another mumbled. "How old is he, Mr Stark?" 

"Fifteen." 

"When did the injury occur?"

"When he was seven— is this not in your records?" 

"I was just making sure, Mr Stark, that everything is correct." Happy shifted around and sat down beside Tony, grumbling about how his legs were aching from standing up. "You sure are in the news a lot lately." 

 _Doesn't he fucking know it_. "I know." 

After an hour an a half of stupid small talk, the three doctors collapse into their chairs, clapping their hands together. "And we're done." 

One by one, they send off the scans to the printer or whatever they do with them, and switch off the machines, letting the bed move out of the scanner. To Tony, that hour and a half had felt like fifty _years_. There was nothing worse than being stuck in a room where you couldn't use any sort of outside technology and surrounded by three doctors and Happy. 

( _Happy grumbled and grunted the whole time. If Tony ever hears him grumble again he might just have to shoot his repulsers at the man._ )

With permission to turn on his phone, he did, and breath was sucked out of him at the notifications. 

_Two missed calls from Midtown Tech._

_One voicemail from Midtown Tech._

He brought his phone to his ear to listen to the voicemail, his leg shaking slightly as he watched the nurse ( _she'd genuinely appeared out of thin fucking air_ ) went in to wake Peter up. 

_"Good morning, Mr Stark, it is Principal Morita. We were just calling to inform you that we have Harley here as he has been in a fight. We would greatly appreciate it if you could stop by as soon as possible."_

The voicemail bleeped to a stop, and Tony's stomach churned. Harley had been in a fight? Harley wouldn't even squash a _bug_ , let alone get in a physical fight with another human. 

_**Tony:** what the fuck did you do? I'm at the hospital with Pete, Harley_

_**Keener:** I didn't fucking do anything, if some dick wants to get in my fucking face and call me and Pete homophobic slurs then I'll fucking punch him and stand up for myself_

_**Tony:** Let me just get Pete up and sorted. _

_**Tony:** ETA thirty minutes _

_**Keener:** Ask Pete to text me_

_**Tony:** Whatever, Keener_

 

* * *

 

Sometime between the time he'd fallen asleep and the time he sat inside Morita's office, Harley had broken someone's nose. There Peter was, anxiety-ridden in a deep sleep, and across the city, Harley was knocking boys out left, right and centre. 

"— and on the subject of school attendance, Mr Stark, we see that Peter is here with you. Is there a specific reason that he could not attend school today?" 

"He just left an important hospital appointment. That really isn't the problem here, Morita. The problem is that Harley is being suspended for defending himself."

"You have to understand that physical violence—“

"— isn't permitted, I know, and I accept that. God knows that Harley can't be violent to save his life." Harley shot Tony a dirty look from beside Peter, who was slowly falling asleep again, his fingers linked loosely with Harley's. "My question is, what is happening with the _other_ asshole?" 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he hears Steve's ' _language_ ' echoing through his ears. It was laughable, it really was, that after everything, Steve's mundane humour could still be such a powerful echo through his head. 

"He is receiving treatment for his broken nose, for now. His father is coming after he finishes work to work out a suitable punishment." 

"And what will that be? _Detention_?" Harley snarled, lifting up his head. Tony caught sight of the bruise running along his cheekbone as it shined in the light.

" _Harley_ ," Tony warned him, barely glancing away from Morita. "Look, we'll make a deal, yeah? Both kids get a two-week suspension and I will _consider_ keeping my son enrolled here." 

It was an empty threat, both Harley and Peter knew it was. He wouldn't take them away from their friends, away from normal life. He was using it as a bluff to get Morita to agree to his terms, and it wasn't a particularly fair game, but Tony was fucking _mad_. There was no changing his mind. 

It was alright in the end. Morita agreed to his deal and Tony had ended up pushing both kid's out of the school, one of them stumbling from fatigue and the other from pure pain and anger. Once in the car, a thick silence rolled over them, making Peter squirm. "Hey, dad, can we— _uh_ , can we get Chick-fil-a?" 

"No." 

" _Boring_. Happy, can we get—" 

" _No_ , Peter." 

"But I'm hungry." 

"Hi hungry, I'm dad." 

"Oh my god," Peter whined, kicking his dad's seat in front of him. "I thought you were cool enough to not make dad jokes!" 

"You thought I was cool?" An easy smirk slid across Tony's face as he turned to face his son, biting back laughter. "I'm so _happy_ that you think I'm cool, Pete, It's so hard to get accepted by teenagers these days. I mean, come on, I'm Iron Man, that's cool, _right_?" 

"Iron Man is cool, you aren't," The words flew so effortlessly from Harley's lips that Tony scoffed. 

“I’m cool, Keener.” 

“Ok and I’m not dating Spider-man.” 

“Yeah, speaking of _Spider-man_ , he’s hungry.”

”I know,” Tony mumbled, twisting around in his seat again. “We’ll get some food with the team.” 

“I thought they were out,” Peter looked down at his phone, only half listening as he opened the twitter app. 

“Natasha and Clint are.”

_**you don’t know who i am** @starkson_

_tony stark won’t buy me food so i might have to overthrow his business and put him down_

_**Harls** @harley_keens_

_the fact that I know that you genuinely are capable of doing exactly that is terrifying_

“Hey, old man, Peter wants to overthrow you and Pep.” 

“Sure thing,” His dad replied, lightly shrugging his shoulders. “Now me and Pep can live out our days without some kid running around.”

”You and mom? You’d be lucky if she came within _five fucking feet_ ,” Peter rolled his eyes, leaning back and crossing his arms. It was true actually, Pepper hadn’t been within five feet of his dad since the day before. 

”Where did you get that potty mouth from?” His dad replied, an eyebrow raising.

”I don’t know, maybe Tony Stark?”

”Maybe, he sounds like a dickhead though.”

”Oh, he is,” Peter grinned, clapping his hands onto his dad’s shoulders. “He won’t even buy his son— who, _by the way_ , has a fast metabolism that definitely _isn’t_ normal— food.”

”Maybe his son should learn to wait for food.”

” _Maybe his son should learn to wait for food_.”

”You say I have a problem! You are just as bad, Peter!” His dad laughed in disbelief, reaching around to whack Peter’s head lightly. “I’m telling Pepper.”

”Go for it,” Peter taunted, raising an eyebrow. “She doesn’t scare me.”

( _That was a lie. She was fucking terrifying_.)

”That is false,” Harley shouted. “You’re fucking terrified.”

( _Harley literally was echoing the words from his head, were they connected?_ )

”Ok, _sure_ , but you don’t need to announce it to the entire world.” Tony rolled his eyes at his son, glancing at Happy briefly. “We’re all scared of mom. I think the only person who isn’t is Natasha.”

“Nat isn’t scared of anything,” Harley shrugged. “Honestly, I think she doesn’t have emotions.”

” _That is false_ ,” Peter echoed Harley’s own words. “Nat is scared of some things, and, dad back me up on this, we know damn well she has emotions.”

”I have no idea what you’re talking about,” His dad lied, a smirk forming on his lips again. He knew damn well that Peter was thinking of the time when Natasha was there as he woke up. “The Black Widow has emotions?” 

“I might run away.”

”Okay, buddy.”

”I’m officially quitting Stark Industries, do you think you can put in a good word with _Oscorp_? Or _Hammer tech_?”

”Over my dead body.”

”Well, Harley, it looks like we’ve got an elderly man to kill.”

” _Finally_ ,” Harley drawled, “I’ve been waiting for this for years.”

”Oh, ha ha ha,” His dad rolled his eyes again ( _his eyes might just roll straight out of his head if he does that anymore_ ), “you two are hilarious.”

”We know.” 

They, eventually, pulled up to Stark Tower and Happy let the three of them out before leaving again, going to pick up Pepper from somewhere. They shuffled through the entrance and got out their passes, trying to ignore the way that the Security Guards stared Peter down. His stomach twisted and rolled with anxiety. 

“Welcome back, Peter. How was your appointment?” FRIDAY asked as he scanned his pass. 

“It was fine, FRIDAY. Tell Dr Cho that I’m cancelling today’s session.” 

“She requests a reason, Peter.”

”Tell her that I’m too tired.”

”She would like to remind you that that is not a valid excuse.”

His dad barked out a laugh as they stood in the elevator, tilting his head back to the ceiling. “Tell Helen that Peter will be ready in three hours.” 

“You’ve betrayed me, dad.”

”Just trying to prevent the Peter snap.”

”Fair enough.”

It was fair enough, to be honest. It was a vicious cycle that they knew too well. _Peter would be depressed, Peter would get tired, Peter would nap, Peter would wake up, and Peter would break._

It was always Peter would do this and Peter could do that. 

Maybe he would work out. Maybe he wouldn’t. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a filler of sorts, and i wanted to make sure i brought the humour back in because that is one of my favourite things to write. 
> 
> should i create a social media book that will be linked with this one? it would have youtube videos by harley, and tweet wars between harley and peter? 
> 
> comments are always appreciated !


	11. For the rich, snobbish and... Harley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m so tired.”
> 
> “Sleepy tired or brain tired?”
> 
> ”So tired of everything.”
> 
> ”Oh, we’re at that stage now? I could’ve sworn it was Vertigo central.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was long overdue hahha fuck  
> saddle up cus this a chapter full of shit

It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to the after-effects of an MRI scan on him, because he was, he just wasn’t expecting it to hit him so suddenly.

Here’s the fucking deal with these scans, Peter has enhanced senses, and so even if he was conked out during the entirety of the scan, the whole ideal did _something_ to him. They hadn’t figured out what it was, but his dad assumed that it was somewhat connected to the habit of Peter’s anxiety attacks once he’s first locked in place for the scan. It was complicated, anyway, and they had gotten to know Peter’s own rhythms and rituals that he followed after a morning like that.

But, as the rest day progressed, Peter felt himself getting more and more agitated as the inkling to sleep crept its way up the base of his skull. It happened too quickly after that. One minute he was laughing and playing Mario Kart with Sam, and the next his head was lulling forward and he could hear his heart in his ears.

There wasn’t a logical explanation for it. It was just something that happened every now and again. Everything around him sounded like he was underwater, and, logically, he could hear his dad speaking to him, but everything was just messed up.

He was struggling, he really was, and he was trying to smile and go and be Spider-man, because that’s what he loves, but on the days when he can’t even get out of bed because of the sheer weight of his own mind, he wishes someone else had gotten bit by the spider.

“Come on, buddy, just look at me.”

Peter lifted his head hazily, squinting through his blurry vision as he tried to settle on his dad’s face. He could feel his hands trembling, and he could feel his lips going too, and it was all too familiar. He hated it. _So much_. He was so tired, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep his eyes open.

This wasn’t an episode, it wasn’t overload, it wasn’t the Peter snap, it wasn’t him getting angry, and it was just the pure exhaustion settling in after three days of being an anxious mess. He could feel his head rolling on his neck, feeling like it weighed fifty tons, but he tried to push past it, to open his eyes and to gain control again. It wasn’t going to happen.

“You’re alright, Peter— _stop_ fighting it—“

That was the thing. He didn’t want to pass out for hours, he _wanted_ to fight it.

“Don’t wanna—“

“ _Peter_.”

His dad had a warning tone edging in his voice, something that Peter hated, but if he had the right frame of mind, he’d let his brain win and drift off, but he wasn’t in the right frame of mind, and he definitely didn’t want to sleep. Besides, everyone around him was so adamant on him working out with Cho, and he couldn’t do that if he was _fucking sleeping_. 

"Just let go, buddy. Stop fighting it," His dad's voice was so soft and Peter wondered that if the public could hear how he spoke when he was with him, they'd change their view on his dad. It was stupid thoughts like that that eventually made his eyes flutter closed, leaving him to slump forward in his dad's arms. All around him, he could hear the team muttering amongst themselves, and in those moments he wished he could hear Harley's voice. 

Unfortunately, as soon as Pepper and Steve got wind of what Harley had done, he'd been sent to do some ' _jail time_ ', basically meaning that he was in his room until further notice. He missed him, as pathetic as it sounded. Sure, he’d been happily playing Mario kart before this happened, but he still missed Harley. 

He didn't want to sleep, but he did it anyway.

 

* * *

 

"You need to get your ass in check." 

"I just woke up and I'm already getting bullied? Uh— _police_?"

“You haven’t stopped sleeping for the past two days.”

” _Sorry_ , Wan, it really isn’t my fucking fault.”

”I know.”

”Then why are you grilling me about it?” 

“I don’t know.”

Peter opened an eye, glancing to his right, looking at Wanda as she led next to him. “You don’t understand,” He mumbled, hand reaching up to rub his eyes. “No one fucking understands.”

She stayed silent for a minute or two, a small frown on her lips. “Help us understand. This— this brain damage? I can tell it’s eating you alive, Pete, and I know I wasn’t here for a bit, but even I can see the difference now that we’re back.”

He laughed bitterly, rolling onto his left side, facing away from her. “Yeah, you can thank Steve for that.”

“ _Steve_? What does he have to do with it?”

Peter knew that this was her trying to pry answers out of him, even if she already knew.

“What doesn’t he have to do with it? It’s self-explanatory, Wanda. I thought you could read minds.”

She snorted, hand reaching over to ruffle the back of his hair. “Give him a chance to explain himself, Petey. I know you’re mad at him, and I’m mad at him too, but try and be somewhat civil with him, he’s trying.”

When he didn’t reply, Wanda ruffled his hair again. “What happened today?”

”Scans. Messed up my head.”

”Sounds like everything messes up your head,” Her voice was so soft and patient, and no matter how much Peter wanted to have a conversation with her, he couldn’t bring himself to. "Just stop thinking about Steve, you're stressing yourself out."

Maybe he was. Actually, he knew he was. It did stress him out, to think about Steve, that is. He felt like the man could so easily just break them apart again, and he would never be able to shake the feeling that he could if he wanted to. He damn well had enough power to do it. 

“It’s hard not to.”

”I know, Pete, but for your sake, please try.”

“Okay.”

”Yeah?”

He nodded again, rolling onto his back to look at her. “Yeah.” 

“Great— I’ll go get your dad, I think he wanted to talk to you.”

Once she’d left, Peter let out a long breath, staring up at his ceiling as his head spun. That was normal. Around three to four hours after the scan, his head would just spin. It wouldn’t make him feel sick, or ill, it just kind of spun, and he was far too used to the feeling to even notice that it was happening half the time. It was sort of like Vertigo, at least, that’s what his mom said. 

He continued to stare until the right side of his bed dipped down. He rolled, just looking at his dad. “I’m so tired.”

Tony sighed, shifting himself so he was led next to Peter, allowing his son to rest his head on his chest. “Sleepy tired or brain tired?”

”So tired of _everything_.”

”Oh we’re at _that_ stage now? I could’ve sworn it was Vertigo central.” 

Peter cracked a smile lazily, “Both.” Tony’s hand rested in his hair, making Peter yawn. “So fucking tired.” 

“I think you’ll be happy to know that Steve and Barnes have left.” 

He shot up, flinching at the way his head spun, but let his jaw drop nonetheless. “They’ve left? To go where?” 

“Lay back down,” Tony grumbled, looping a hand around his sons neck and guiding him back down. “Wakanda.”

”Why?”

”Don’t know,” He hummed, “don’t care. It’s gonna do you good, kid.”

”Hope so.” Peter let a silence roll over them for a few minutes, just enjoying laying close with his dad. He missed it. “Wanda said you had to speak to me.”

“I did.”

”So?” 

“There’s a gala tonight. For Stark Industries. I’m taking Harley, and _god_ , Pete, I want to take you but—“

”— I’m too unstable. I look too much like you. People would put two and two together—“

”— and I can’t risk that,” He swallowed before speaking again. “I don’t want to risk people finding out who you are, squirt, I really don’t, and with the attacks—“

”It’s okay,” Peter smiled stiffly, “I understand. Besides, I think Harley’s been in jail long enough, don’t you?”

Tony leaned forward, his hand smoothing back the hair on his sons head. “I love you, buddy. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”

”I know,” He smiles softly back, with a slight nod of his head as he leaned into his dad's touch. “I always do.”

His dad pressed a kiss lightly to his hair before standing up and moving to his bedroom door, “I’ll send in Keener.”

”Thank you,” He replied, “I love you.”

”Love you too, buddy.”

When Harley came bounding through the door, the ghost of laughter etched on his lips, Peter smiled lazily ( _again_ ). “How was jail?”

Harley flopped down, his hair falling away from his face as he looked at Peter. “It was... interesting. Sam got wind of me being away and came and played games with me, don’t tell Pep though! She’ll go _ballistic_.”

”She’s gone out, or, that’s what FRIDAY said. I can’t tell if she’s lying to me or not.” 

“It’s an AI.”

Peter smirked. “Are you forgetting who coded her?”

”You _can't_ lie,” Harley drawled. “When Pepper first asked if you were sneaking out, you told her you were going to bars.”

Peter held up a finger, “Fair point, _but_ , I have kept my identity a secret.”

”I’ll give you that,” He nodded. “Are you coming to the gala?”

“No,” Peter shook his head, hands reaching up to brush hair from Harley’s face. “‘m not allowed.” 

"Fair enough," He said, "let's send the kid with a black eye instead!"

"Oh _wow_ ," Peter started, "poor kid with the black eye. It must _really suck_ going to a gala with rich people."

Harley's mouth dropped open, making Peter snort as he spluttered in disbelief. "Am I hearing you correctly? It is, in fact, one of the worst things in the world and you know damn well it is!" 

"Sorry, don't recall."

"You're such a shit."

 

* * *

 

“God, I’m so fucking _gay_.”

”What did you say?”

”Huh? I don’t recall—“

Harley smirked and dropped the shirt he was attempting to button up. “Are you getting flustered?” 

” _No_.”

”Are you sure?” Harley then completely abandoned the button up, letting it slide down his shoulders. Peter squeaked, his eyes darting across Harley’s toned chest. “That’s pretty gay, Petey.”

”Shut up.” Harley could only grin as a flush coated Peter’s cheeks. “Stop staring at me.”

”But you’re so cute!”

”Now who’s being fucking gay?”

”No homo, bro.”

”Fuck off!” Peter rolled to the side, a dopey grin on his face as he reached out his arms, making grabbing motions toward Harley. “C’mere.”

Harley clicked his tongue, moving his hands to pick up the shirt again. "Pete— I need to get ready—“

"Yeah and I need to work out but we both know that that's not gonna happen."

Peter was challenging when he was like this, he knew he was, but he was anxious and ( _moderately_ ) upset, so excuse him if he needs physical affection. Harley breathed, looking down as he began to button up the shirt. "Look, baby, I'm only going to this stupid gala, but if you need me, I'll come right back. The same goes for Tony."

"It's not stupid," Peter stared down at his lap and picked at his bedsheets, swallowing thickly. "I'm sorry. You go and have a great time. M-maybe I'll ask Wan and Nat to watch a movie."

"I definitely won't have a good time," Harley laughed grimly, already wanting to back out of his agreement with Tony and Pepper. The agreement, in fact, was that because Peter wasn't allowed to go to the Stark Industries gala, he had to. Having Peter go was just something they didn't want to risk and, anyway, Peter was much more content staying at home and away from large crowds of people. "I have a black eye and everyone is going to think I'm a fucking _thug_." 

"I thought you were gonna tell people that you ran into a locker?" 

"That makes me sound like a _dumbass_ , Pete, and I'm going to be surrounded by geniuses." 

"You aren't a dumbass," He shrugged, moving the pillows around him to make it more comfortable. "You're a genius, Harls, just tell them that you go to Midtown Tech and they'll be fascinated." 

"You're cute," He commented, reaching across Peter to grab his tie. "I'm not Tony Stark's son, Peter, you are. You're the genius here."

"Just get ready so I can take photos of you and tell the world how hot my boyfriend is."

"I'm trying to get ready but you keep distracting me," Harley muttered, watching himself in the mirror as he looped his tie one more time before dropping his arms. "Whoever invented ties needs to get shot." 

Peter rolled his eyes and pulled a blanket to his chest as he rested his head onto Harley's pillow ( _when Harley needed to start getting ready, they'd moved into his room from Peters_ ). His boyfriend stared at him, eyebrows raised. "Your bed is comfier than mine," Peter argued, a smirk sliding onto his lips. It was true, but then again, Peter didn't know if that was because he had a better mattress or if it was just because it was _Harley's_ bed. "It's true."

"You're ridiculous," Harley drawled, reaching into his closet for his blazer. After slipping it on, he spun on his heel before opening his arms, presenting himself to his boyfriend. "How am I looking?" 

He couldn't help but let a blush coat his cheeks as Peter stared him up and down, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. "Very hot, actually— if my mother could read my mind—“ 

"— she'd be disgusted." They both looked to the doorway, where Wanda was stood with her arms crossed and an amused smile lighting up her face. "You need to get yourself in check." 

" _Oh_? I thought it was you that I caught staring at Visions ass—“

Her cheeks instantly darkened as she made her way into Harley's room. "I don't know what you're talking about, Peter." 

"Huh," Peter grinned, moving to the side of Harley's bed to make room for the girl. "Must've been a dream."

Wanda fake laughed and swiped at Peter's head, but only finding air as he ducked out of the way. This sort of normality between the three, as they were the youngest, was so greatly treasured, and since Wanda had gotten back, they hadn't spent as much time together as they wanted to. She hummed, nestling down next to Peter, "Anyway," She rolled her eyes, "how was the scan? I never asked." 

"Horrific," Peter replied, letting his eyes flutter closed as Harley did the finishing touches to his hair. "It took two whole hours." 

"So dramatic," Harley rolled his eyes and buttoned up his blazer before leaning down next to Peter, his hands brushing his boyfriend's hair out of his face. Harley kissed him lightly and ignored the sounds of Wanda fake retching. "I'll see you later." 

To Peter, as soon as Harley left and he fell asleep, it felt like Harley was back again. He slipped into bed and tugged Peter toward him, and Peter could smell the alcohol on his breath. "Was i' fun?" 

Harley chuckled, the vibrations running through his chest. "Yeah, Pete, it was fun." 

"Can smell... can smell the drink," He mumbled, burying his nose into Harley's neck. "You're not... old enough... not _twenny one_."

"It's okay, Pete, go back to sleep." Harley felt him nod slowly and his breathing evened out. 

So what if they'd only been at the Gala for an hour because Tony knew how much Peter was struggling, so what if Tony didn't even make the speech he was supposed to. Peter wouldn't know. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was suppossed to be longer, but i cannot be bothered to write it. in the next chapter we get to go back to midtown and see peter on patrol again !
> 
> (this is fucking SHIT)


End file.
